Full text of "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo: Being the Account of a Journey Overland from Simla to Peking"

See other formats

Google

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project

to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the

publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at |http: //books .google .com/I

CW ^oo. >'

Sartiart College litraii

J. HUNTINGTON WOLCOTF FUND

IN THE FOOTSTEPS

OF MARCO POLO

IN THE FOOTSTEPS

OF MARCO POLO

Being the Account of a Journey
Overland from Simla to Pekin

Major CLARENCE DALRYMPLE _BRUCE

LATE COIIMAKDING THE CHINESE KECIMENT OF INFANTRY

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS

EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MCMVII

AU RigkU rtstrvU

qLz&^,/s^

TO MY BROTHER OFFICERS, AS WELL AS TO
THE EUROPEAN NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS,
OF THE LATE CHINESE REGIMENT, THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED, IN MEMORY OF MANY HAPPY
YEARS ENJOYED TOGETHER, AND OP HARD
TIMES CHEERFULL Y SHARED.

PREFACE.

My sole excuse for venturing to lay before a long-
suffering public such a book as this lies in the
hope that it may afford a few hours of interest
and amusement to those less fortunate than the
author in the opportunities they may have had
for gratifying that passion for wandering which
is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race.

Many whose fate is the busy city were bom
for the wilds. All honour to them for stifling
the innate craving. It is as a humble offering to
such kindred spirits that this book is written.

My thanks are first of all due to Mr William
Blackwood for much kind help in the production
of this book. To the proprietors of * The Cornhill
Magazine/ ' The Standard/ and * Blackwood's
Magazine ' I am indebted for permission to make
use of articles and letters. To the Council of

Vlll PREFACB.

the Royal Geographical Society I owe help in
the production of my map; and finally, to my
firiend John Swire, for more material help in
enabling me partly to meet the heavy expenses
connected with such a journey.

C. D. BRUCE.

Wtnters Qbange,
Hablow, Essex.

CONTENTS.

PAOB

CHAPTER I.

The Avoidiuioe of beaten paths — A bosj week at Srinagar —
'*Mr Cook"— A valley of loveliness— The Zoji Pass— The
religion of the Ladakis — Prayer cylinders — Polyandry — An
elaborate ooiffnre— Leh — A l4una temple

CHAPTER IL

Preparing the caravan — Ladak slimness — Horse -baying by
arbitration — A grand polo -match in the street at Leh —
The lApchack mission — The difficulties attending a start —
Training as a core for mountain sickness — A primitive pair
of scales — ^The silent land — How to drive a yak — Hunting
the Tibetan hare; .18

CHAPTER III.

Entering Tibet— The detection of *'the Lama " — Robbers-
Stalking under difficulties — A heavy sleeping -suit — The
Curzon Range and Kitchener Group — Character of the
Ladaki — Hints on transport — The history of Tibet . 41

CHAPTER IV.

The passage of the Kuen Lun — A perilous descent — A miser-
able camping-ground — Gold '* pockets " — A pleasant surprise
— The luxury of eggs — The welcome sight of a tree — A
hospitable Beg — Entering Polu in rags .67

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

An ideal place for a rest-cure — A house in Polu — Flesh-pots
and luxury — The Turkis of Polu — Hawks and hawking — A
diplomatic " deal " in donkeys — The Kiria river — Two selfish
aksakals — The oasis of Kookhia — Kiria — A friendly Amban
— Chinese Turkestan — The Eastern Turkish dialect — The
Andijanis as traders . . . .81

CHAPTER VI.

Introduction of Buddhism into China — A garden encampment
— A Chinese octroi — Niya and its buried ruins — A sporting
Beg — A variety pack of hounds — Primitive spears — Hawking
— A pig hunt — A picturesque beat — An impromptu horse-
race — One of nature's gentlemen .... 101

CHAPTER VII.

The mountain route to Cherchen — The gorges of the Niya river
— Sorghack — Gold-diggings — Down the mine — Prehistoric
methods — Variable measures of distance — ^The shepherds of
the Kuen Lun — Kopa — The mystery of a soup- tin — The
march to Cherchen — A rush for water — An unfriendly
aksakal — The Amban of Cherchen — The veracity of Marco
Polo — Chinese and Indian traders — The Amban's cigar . 120

CHAPTER Vin,

Lou-Lan — Two descriptions of 77 b.c. and 1900 a.d. — The
Lopnor controversy — Marco Polo's description of the desert
— Sven Hedin's discoveries — A bewildering jungle track —
Gigantic trees— Changing waterways—An ocean of sand—
The conquest of torrents by sand — The value of a dead pony
—A pony in a com pit^A wandering sportsman— British
boots in fashion at Lhasa — The oasis of Chakalik — An aged
Amban — A present of Dover powders . • .146

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER IX,

Tearful f&rewella — An ancient sea-shore — Abdal — Marco Polo
and the desert sounds — Boot-heaps — A Christmas Eve dinner
in the desert — The finding of a bag of com — A desert tragedy
— The Chinese tarla or watch-towers — A wind-storm in the
desert — Kara Nor — A devoted surveyor — Sachu . .169

CHAPTER X.

The boundaries of Chinese Turkestan — Interior routes — The
five routes of entrance and egress — Ancient connection
with India — Buddhism as a power — Chinese administration
— Currency and taxation — Mining — Military organisation
— ^The courier post — Russian domination — Signs of a new
era in Asia ....... 196

CHAPTER XL

Sftcha — Marco Polo's accuracy — A hospitable reception — The
introduction of Western ideas — The temptation of lump-
sugar — ^A display of marksmanship— Chinese carts — A nerve-
shaking ordeal — A decaying town — Street-stall bargaining
— The intricacies of payment by ''cash'' — Silver ihor$ —
Mohammedan risings — In the track of war — Comfortless
lives— A mud-brick fort ..... 218

CHAPTER XII.

8a-chou — Post-houses — Beacon-signals — The Feast of Lanterns
— Kan-chou — A colossal figure of Buddha — Town defences
and forts of refuge — The question of Chinese missions —
Monseigneur Otto — Possible railway routes — Liang-chou —
The story of the death of YU-Hsien . . S47

CHAPTER XIIL

Natives of Western Eaiisu — Opium-smoking — The Pekin edict
— Travelling carts — Lan-chou — A bridge of boats — A sur-
prising dinner-party — The meeting of East and West —
Comic -opera army manoeuvres — Fair women and famed
tobaooo— Primitive machinery — The future of Kansu and
Sw-choan ....... 276

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV.

A week at Lan-chou — The problem of the loess formation —
Kichthofen's theory — Contrasts of scenery — Difficult locomo-
tion — Camel caravans — A historical retrospect — ^A dangerous
ferry — Cave villages — A remote Catholic mission — A quaint
oblation — Ching-yang-fu — ^A remarkable tunnel — A Chinese
Ivanhoe ........ 900

CHAPTER XV.

Petroleum and coal — Cave-dwellings — ^A visit to a mine— Tai-
yuan-fu — The university of Shansi — A native newspaper —
The Ku-kuan Pass — A great coal and iron field — ^A railway
at last — Signor Philipetti's hotel — China's haste to become
Western ........ 331

CHAPTER XVL

The growth of a military spirit in China — Signs of upheaval
— ^Three possible causes of the subterraneous movement —
The Emperor — The Dowager-Empress — ^The effect of the
Japanese victories — The past history of Chinese arms —
Kublai Ethan's unsuccessful attacks on Japan — Reasons for
doubting the renascence of a military spirit . . . 346

Appendix — *

Record of Temperature and Weather. Leh to Polu . 365

Index ........ 375

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

V A OBOUP AT LKH • • . .
PRKPARIKO FOB POLO IK THE STREET AT LEH

^BABA HATAN VALLET

CBOBSniO THE AK8U-LA • •

« THE HILL-POIIT 07 NOBTHEBN KAfiHHIB
^ BBBAKrABT IN TIBET . •

VUBSOrO AK OLD COMPANION
«aH THE KUEN LUN MOUNTAINS

THE PASSING OF THE KUEN LUN G0B0E8
•^OUB CABAVAN IN THE KUEN LUN

A CAMP IN THE KUEN LUN OOBOES
vTUBKI WOMEN AT KIBIA •

EEADT FOB HAWKING

V THE GOLD MINES AT SOBGHACK
WINNOWING GOLD AT SOBGHACK

V A DUG-OUT NEAB ACHEN .
THE AMBAN OF CHEBCHEN

y TBTING THE ICE NEAB CHAKALIK

TAK LEAVING CAMP
v^HE AMBAN OF CHAKALIK AND BETINUE

CAMELS ON THE MABCH IN THE KUM TAG DESERT
^A EKED HUT AND TENT NEAB ABDAL

CRUSHED ICE FOB THE PONIES
-^OUB CARTS AT THE GATE OF HSIA-KOU

PAOI

124

134

152

170

172

226

XIV LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS.

BUYING BREAD AND EGGS AT A WAYSIDE EATING-HOUSE . 226

• THE GREAT WALL OP CHINA, NORTH-WEST KANSU . . 260

OLD WATCH-TOWER ON THE GREAT WALL . . . 260

v^THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION NEAR LIANG-CHOU . . 264

vLAN-CHOU FROM ACROSS THE YELLOW RIVER . . . 292

THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY OF CHINA — A MODERN (!) PRESS AT

LAN-CHOU ....... 292

^ PILLAR 91 FEET HIGH : A SPECIMEN OF THE LOESS FORMATION

IN EAST KANSU ...... 302

^ THE ORDINARY HILL TRACK THROUGH THE LOESS FORMATION

NEAR CHING-YANG-FU ...... 306

^ STONE STAIRCASE OP 600 STEPS LEADING UP TO A MOUNTAIN

TEMPLE NEAR SAN-SHI ..... 308

•LOESS FORMATION IN THE HUEN-HO VALLEY . . . 310

v'CAVB FARMSTEADS IN THE LOESS NEAR CHING-YANG-FU . 312

CAVE TEMPLES IN THE ROCK ON THE SHENSI-KANSU BORDER . 312

"^ SINGLE- ARCH STONE BRIDGE, HUAN-HO VALLEY . . . 314

>^A COMBINATION HOUSE -AND -CAVE VILLAGE IN THE HUAN-HO

VALLEY ....... 322

>^THE WO-KUAN OF CHING-YANG-FU .... 324

-'MOTHER, WIFE, AND DAUGHTER OF THE WO-KUAN OF CHING-
YANG-FU ....... 328

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF
MAKCO POLO.

CHAPTEE L

THS ATOIDANCS OF BEATEN PATHS— ▲ BUST WEEK AT SRXNAOAB—
''MB cook"— A TALLET OF LOTELINESS — THS ZOJl PASS— THS
EEUOION OF THS LADAKIS — PRATEB CTLIVDEBS — POLTANDBT — ^AN
ELABORATB OOIFFUES— LEH— A LAMA TEMPLE.

In the endeavour to see as much of the world
as possible, a good general rule through life is
never to travel twice by the same route when
there is an alternative. Although the present is
a restless age, there is no inconsiderable number
of people travelling who are content to follow the
same path, however well beaten.

In the course of nearly twenty-five years' soldier-
ing in most parts of the world, acceptance of the
above rule has thrown open to me many byways
and little known tracks, particularly during the
last eight yeara Throughout this latter period
my service has been spent for the most part in
China, or in passing to and fi:o to the Far East,

2 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

and on no two occasions has the same route been
followed. A glance at any map of the world will
show that there are only two ordinary routes.
But to any one bent on wandering there are
many, and it is the account of one such journey
that it is proposed to oflFer to readers of the
following pages.

I left England in Jime 1905 for India by the
usual sea-route. Traversing the Red Sea in July
is not a pleasure to be dwelt upon. But for the
distraction oflFered by the kindness of the captain
of the P. and O. vessel, in allowing me to improve a
scanty knowledge of solar observations, the voyage
would have been marked as so much time wasted.

My previous experience of India had been in the
early 'eighties, so that the idea of a renewal of
acquaintance with Anglo-Indian society and customs
was not without interest.

Bombay in the rains is no place to linger at,
as those who have not become acclimatised to its
somewhat humid atmosphere know well. As soon
as the much-improved railway service would allow,
I was speeding north over the then brazen plains in
the height of the hot weather to the more salub-
rious atmosphere of the summer capital at Simla.
There, the final arrangements regarding a surveyor
to accompany the expedition, as well as those con-
nected with the necessary permission to travel
through certain portions of Central Asia, occupied
another ten days. Thanks to the kindly interest
taken by the late Viceroy in all matters connected
with Asiatic travel, these arrangements presented
no difficulty. The only other possible source of

A FRIEND IK NEED. 3

delay — that of obtaining a companion to accompany
me on the journey — was also at once removed by
the no less ready sympathy of the present Com-
mander-in-chief with the aim of our journey. Per-
mission to accompany me having been granted to
a former brother officer, Captain W. T. Layard, who
had served in the now defunct Chmese regiment
with which I had also been connected, we left
Simla together at the end of July, our immediate
destination being Srinagar the capital of Kashmir.

The beauties of Kashmir have so often been
described, and that exquisite country is now so
well known to visitors to India, that it is un-
necessary to follow this portion of the journey in
detail.

After a busy week at Srinagar, where the various
native shops provide every want the traveller may
have, we were glad to be done with the endless
bargaining, and to find our lists of stores more or
less complete.

It is said that the occasion will always produce
the man, and in our case at Srinagar the adage
certainly was true. We had begun our chaffering
under the wing of a well-known merchant who, as
the Eastern does, had entirely taken possession of
us upon our arrival. Everything we required he,
of course, had, and protestations flowed as they
only can from the mouth of a would-be seller and
he a native. It was not until two days' patient
waiting had produced nothing more than words
that we became alive to the character of our friend.
Sallying out in despair into the picturesque slums
bordering the many -bridged Jhelum river, we

4 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

visited in turn the vaxions puttoo-makers, leather-
workers, and others, at each endeavour becoming
more depressed at the length of time required to
fulfil our orders. At last, worn out with pro-
testing that we might be at least half-way to Leh
by the time the requisite goods were to be
ready in Srinagar, we had nearly confessed our-
selves beaten, when the sudden appearance of a
bland and smUing native entirely changed the
position of affairs.

If the National Congress is ever to take the
place of the Viceroy's Council in the endeavour to
smooth the path of those whose cry is India for
the Indians, the president of that congress will
undoubtedly be the man whom fate threw in our
path that day at Srinagar. Blessed with an im-
perturbable manner which no outpourings of rival
purveyors could disturb, with a glib tongue far too
clever to entangle its owner in the usual meaningless
string of polite affirmatives, our new friend possessed
also the most valuable gift which nature can bestow,
that of inspiring personal confidence at once and m
a marked degree. From the moment we set eyes
upon " Mr Cook," — for so we named our fi:iend out
of compliment to a Western counterpart he had
never heard of, — he became our sole Universal
Provider, and nobly he fulfilled the self-assumed
task.

Difficulties, which a moment before appeared in-
superable, dissolved like magic. Prices all round —
except Mr Cook's own — at once fell as unaccount-
ably as have our own Consols ; and that night, for
the first time, we laid our weary heads upon the

A VERITABLE PARADISE. 5

pillows of Mr Nedous' comfortable beds, with a
future assuming a complexion altogether covleur
de rose.

Upon the 29th of July preparations were finally
completed, and we were able to leave the capital.
The country traversed in the march from Srinagar
to the confines of the Zoji Pass appeared a veritable
paradise after the scorching plains of Lower India.
One of the most beautiful spots at which the
traveller halts during the daily marches through
the wealth of lovely forest is the little valley of
Sonamarg. This peaceful spot has been so well
described by one who thoroughly appreciated its
nattiral charm, that his own words can best enable
my readers to draw the mental picture.

*' Sonamarg is a narrow grassy flat extending
some two miles between the hillside and the river-
bank. Connected with it is a wider tract at the
meeting of a side valley from the south-west. This
latter is beautiful undulating ground, known as
Tahjwaz, a succession of dells surrounded by
hillocks or grassy mounds, which are sometimes
connected more or less into a line and sometimes
isolated The dells are covered with long thick
grass and numerous wild-flowers, while the slopes
of the hillocks have a growth of silver fir, with
sycamore, birch, and other bright green trees
beautifully intermingled. Surrounded by forests
and great rocky mountains, divided into hollows,
in each of which lies a glacier, nature has com-
bined to form in the lonely meadows of Sona-
marg a grandeur and beauty that can hardly be
exceeded."

6 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

Such is the charm of this little valley that it was
once intended to use it as a summer abode for the
British Resident in Kashmir. A log church was
even built, but was afterwards destroyed by fire.
This did not, however, prevent us from enjoyig an
open-air service, the day being Sunday. A travel-
ling friend, a plUlre from the plains, was encamped
a short distance away. One or two other camps
also rested in quiet contentment farther up the
valley, and as it was the last Sunday we were
likely to spend in such a manner for many months,
we gladly accepted our friend's invitation to the
simple service he had prepared outside his little
camp. A more ideal spot could hardly be desired
even by the most imaginative of men ; and to my
companion and myself this chance service seemed to
foretell what is known to the dwellers in the far-
oflF land which was our goal, as a " good joss."

Between the Zoji-la (11,300 feet) and Leh there
is to be found some hard and excessively dull
marching. At the time our party crossed the
pass it was still covered with ice, a somewhat
unusual experience for the month of August. As
a pass it is by no means an easy ascent. It has
been described by Sven Hedin, who crossed it in
January, as one of the worst he had ever been
over.

From Baltal, in the valley below, the track com-
mences at once to ascend. Six hundred feet up, it
runs out on to a small ice slide or miniature glacier,
where the foothold, to say the least of it, is pre-
carious. One slip for man or beast would mean
a fall into the stream-bed below, with little or no

THE LADAKTB. 7

ehanoe of reoovery; and once fidlen, the victim
would have no personal interest in his reoovery.

Above the Zoji-la, although the heavy forest
which covers the lower mountain-slopes is entirely
absent, the valleys still hold good grasa We found
in one a fine herd of ponies, the property of his
Highness the Maharajah, guarded by some of his
people living in tents. It is the custom to send
into the higher valleys of Kashmir not only ponies,
bat also sheep and goats, in order that they may
profit by a summer on the luscious grasa Large
herds of the latter are driven from as far away as
Dhera-gazi-khan.

Between the Zoji-la and Leh, the track follows
various mountain streams, tributaries of the Indus
river, through rocky bare gorges, where the heat in
August is by no means pleasant. Best-houses have
been erected at the end of each day's march, and a
small payment by those travellers who use them
helps towards their upkeep.

The Ladakis who inhabit this country differ con-
siderably fix)m the Kashmiris. The former profess
Buddhism, but, be it said at once, a form which
bears hardly any resemblance to the elevating and
mystic faith which Buddha once taught.

The actual religion of Ladak is a modified form of
Indian Buddhism, and was introduced more than
2000 years ago. It is contained in a volmninous
work called the 'Kah-Gyur' or * Translation of
Precepts/ because it is a version of the precepts
of ''Sakya" made Srom the Indian language.
Sakyamuni, the founder of the Buddhist faith, is
called '' Chom-dan-das " by the Lamas, but '' Sakya-

8 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

Thubba," or the mighty Sakya, by the people. As
is well known, there are various sects of Lamas, the
most ancient being the Nyiampa, who wear red
robea This sect was founded in the eighth century.
In the fourteenth was founded the great sect of the
Greluk-Pa. These wear yellow robes, and are now
the most numerous in Tibet. Both the Dalai Lama
of Lhasa and the Tashi-Lama of Tashi-Luhn-Po
belong to it. There is besides a third sect who
also wear yellow robes. All who have taken vows
of celibacy are called by the collective name of
gedun (clergy). A monk is styled a lama, a mm
djomUy tsomu, or ani.

With nuns the monastic life is apparently op-
tional and i» only «lopted by the SdleJan^
homeless. A woman merely shaves her head, goes
to a monastery, and becomes a mm. Should she
wish to quit the life, her hair is allowed to grow
again, and, after paying a small fine to the Lamas,
she may emerge.

Most Lamas shave their heads and go bareheaded.
The higher ones wear semicircular red caps. There
are three ritualistic instriunents — the bell, the
sceptre or thunderbolt, and the prayer cylinder.
The sceptre is called sera-pun-dze ; it is said to
have flown away fix)m India and to have alighted
at Sera in Tibet. An annual festival is held in its
honour.

The prayer cylinder, nvani-chus-khory or "the
precious religious wheel," is an ingenious instru-
ment — a metal cylinder 3 inches high and 2 inches
to 2 1 inches in diameter. The axis is prolonged to
form a handle. The cylinder is filled with rolls of

"THE JEWEL IN THE LOTUS." 9

printed prayers and charms, which revolve with the
instrument. Every Lama is supposed to carry a
chus'khor. Some of the cylinders have the sacred
sentences, " Om-mani-pad-mi-hun," "oh, the jewel
in the lotus," graven on them* Cylinders are also
placed near the doors of gonpas (literally a solitary
place), which votaries turn as they enter. Other
cylinders are sometimes seen near villages, turned
perpetually by the water of some stream.

The monasteries are known as gonpcts. It is the
custom in most large monasteries to have two head
Lamas,— one being the leader in spiritual matters
and the other the manager of temporal affairs. In
the monasteries are Iha-khang (God's House or
Temple), consisting of single rooms, square and
unadorned, filled with images and pictures. The
former are usually nearly life-size, made of unbumt
day, and painted in gaudy coloura

Where no monasteries exist, a labrang (Lama
House) is used. The Lamas then live in separate
hou8e& Other Buddhistical erections are the
cfiorten (offering receptacle), which is a dedicatory
pyramid erected in honour of Sakya-Thubba or of
some of the holy Buddhas. It consists of a square
base surrounded by steps, upon which stands the
dome, the principal part of the edifice. In shape
this is an inverted truncated cone. The dome is
surmounted by a lofty pinnacle crowned by a sacred
crescent - shaped emblem. These pyramids vary
fix)m 15 to 30 feet in height, and are constructed
of mud brick plastered over and painted.

A kagani is a magnified chorten with a road-
way leading through it. They are frequently

10 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

found at the entrance to villages, as at Lamayuru
near Leh, and at the entrance to hou8e&

Another religious requisite is the dungten (bone-
holder). It is a pyramid erected over the corpse of a
Lama, or over the ashes of a person of consequence.
Inside the urn are the ashes with numerous reUcs.
The most common of all religious emblems every-
where in evidence are the mani. A mani is a dyke
of stones varying in length, but usually some 5
feet by 6 to 8 feet wide. On the road to Leh
nyani over 250 yards in length are to be seen, whose
sides, tops, and ends are all covered with flat stones
of varying sizes, but every one bearing cut upon its
surface the " Om-mani-pad-mi-hun."

The mani are made by the contributions of the
faithful, each person placing on the mound a stone,
some of which in the carving of the characters are
of considerable artistic merit. As an offering the
idea may appear childish, yet the principle is one
common to our own religion in early days. The
idea embodied in the action of devout Buddhists is
somewhat doubtful. By some authorities it is
said to be merely the act of those desiring a
special favour, such as a son bom to them. An-
other, and on the part of the superstitious peasant
it would seem a more likely reason for the act,
is, that upon the last day when a certain recording
angel, Khurjidal by name, appears on earth, any
one who has placed a stone on the mani will
have his name read by the angel, and be accorded
"value for goods received," or, in less prosaic
language, salvation or at least intervention by the
recording angel with the great Judge.

PICTURESQUE CAIRNS. 11

At each mani the track divides to pass on both
sides of the dyke in order that travellers may
always keep the mani on their right in whichever
direction they are going.

I have frequently watched the behaviour of the
caravan men under the circumstances, and found as
a rule that the animals, fix)m habit more often than
not, appeared to take the proper side. On the
occasions when they did not, no one seemed to pay
any attention to the fact.

HlcUo (cairns) may be seen on any pass or high
solitary spot. Some merely consist of stones and
a rag or two : others are more picturesque, and
offer landmarks for a considerable distance round.
These latter have poles inserted into the cairns,
firom which long streamers flutter in the breeze.
Besides the streamers, boughs of trees are some-
times found wedged among the stones, and on these
are stuck the horns of ibex or other wild sheep.

It is well known that polyandry is the custom
among the Ladakis. The elder brother marries a
wife, and she de facto becomes the wife of all his
brothers. The children of such marriages always
take the name of and obey the eldest brother, who
is called the big father, a younger brother being
spoken of as the little father. The system of
polyandry is chiefly due to the advantage which, in
cases of extreme poverty, brothers gain by being able
to live together and jointly till the small property
they have inherited. The Ladaki women are un-
doubtedly finer than the men, and this is partly
proved by the intermarriages between Yarkandi
and other traders and Ladaki women. The off-

12 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

spring, called " Arghuns," are generally fine men of
notable physique, but their , mothers are wife to
one man only.

The Ladaki women wear the usual loose robes
of the East, and follow the customary rule as to
outdoor work. One curious custom in common
use among them is the making up of their com-
plexions with a process called "Shogolo." This
consists in smearing the cheeks and forehead with
the juice and seeds of the belladonna plant. Great
pains are bestowed in arranging the bright-yellow
seeds effectively upon the brown skin, and the
result is that the face appears as if sprinkled with
grains of gold.

The method of wearing the hair indulged in by
the women of Ladak is also peculiar. That they
become accustomed to the weight of the ornamental
head-dress is no doubt the case, but that such
an inconvenient and cumbersome style should be
adopted by people who work largely out of doors,
only affords one more example of the tyranny of
fashion even in remote countries. Having plaited
the hair down the back, they work into it a long
strip of red or black cloth. This is some 24 inches
long by 5 inches wide at the top, but tapering at
the lower end to a width of 1^ to 2 inches. Upon
this bit of cloth are fastened, at times, as many as
five vertical rows of small stones of lapis - lazuli.
The stones vary in size from some as small as a pea
up to others larger than a big walnut, and what
the weight is can easily be imagined. They are
fastened to the strip of cloth in even rows, usually
having the largest stone in the centre, from which

LEH. 13

to both ends they decrease in size. The top por-
tion of the cloth covers the head like a flat cap,
coming down to the roots of the hair in front.
As seen in gala dress the effect is not unpleasing.
Unfortunately, cleanliness of person is usually a
diflSculty with natives who dwell at high altitudes,
and the Ladaki men and women are no exception
either in person or in the matter of their clothes.

The approach to Leh from the valley of the Indus
river is a striking one, nor does nearer acquaint-
ance, as is usual in the East, tend to obliterate first
impressions. From Pitak, a village on the banks
of the river, the track turns to mount gently for
five miles across a bare stony plain until green
trees, fields, and small grassy gardens or '^ baghs,"
as they are locally called, mark the limits of the
area under cultivation.

The town stands five mUes from the right bank
of the Indus river and at the conmiencement of the
ascent which leads to the Khardong-la on the
Yarkand route. It also commands the track which
leads up the right bank of the Indus river as far
as Chimray, thirteen miles beyond Leh. Here the
track quits the river and crosses the Chang-la and
other passes into Tibet. Thirdly, Leh commands
the main track vid Pitak down the Indus river to
Srinagar.

The only attempt at defence is in the fort, which
stands a mile nearer to Pitak than the town itself
and three-quarters of a mile from the mountain
ridges which command its interior.

The fort is a rectangular one, built of wood and
mud. It has a fosse from 10 to 12 feet deep and

14 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

20 feet wide, which could be filled if necessary from
the stream-bed, upon whose bank the fort is built.
Being the point of departure for all the Yarkand
trading caravans as well as for the private expe-
ditions which purpose crossing the Chang-Chenmo
valley and penetrating into Tibet, the population of
Leh is a very mixed one. The inhabitants depend
for their livelihood almost entirely upon the cara-
van trade. The shopkeepers, who provide all and
every article used by natives for pack transport, in
their turn offer work for the actual makers of such
goods. To provide subsistence for all is again the
work of other stall - keepers, who find the grain,
fodder, and daily necessities of bazar life.

Among the many types of this polyglot popula-
tion may be mentioned Ladakis, Baltis, men fi:om
the Zanskai* district south-west of Leh, Yarkandis,
dwellers round Khotan, Turkis, half-bred Tibetans
and Tibetans from the Rudok district, Hindoo
shopkeepers, Mussulmans, Lamas, and last but not
least, a large population of "Arghuns." The last,
as already mentioned, are the o£&pring of inter-
marriages or temporary cohabitation between Yar-
kandi traders and Ladaki women. As a class they
are usually fine men of extra good physique, and as
caravan men frequently make useful servants.

The cultivated portion of the Leh valley proper
is, roughly, three miles by one mile in area, equal
to some 2000 acres.

Grazing for animals in such a place, where cara-
vans are for ever arriving and starting, is a matter
of importance. After as well as before facing the
hardships of the Yarkand route, it is the custom to

AN IMPREGNABLE CASTLE. 15

feed up the animals upon the grass or hay which
grows in the baghs or wooded gardens surround-
ing the town. In extent these baghs vary firom
50 to 150 yards square, and are sometimes let for
grazing for as much as Bs. 45 (£3) per bctgh.
Naturally, the price varies with the state of the
grass. We paid Rs. 18 for a fortnight's grazing in
one of the biggest, the Magna Bagh, but the grass
was not at its best.

The castle of the gycUpo — ^literally king — is, to-
gether with the Lama temples, the most striking
building in Leh. It stands perched upon a pre-
cipitous spur immediately above the town, and is
the point which attracts the eye in any view of
the latter.

The walls are of solid stone, and, in security of
position and massive strength, yield little in defen-
sive power to the castles of our own feudal times.
Inside, the area consists of a labyrinth of semi-dark
passages, steep stairways, and trap-door-like exita
The stairways appear to lead to nowhere in partic-
ular, but pass from one empty vault to another.
In the old days it can easily be imagined that
nothing short of starvation or want of water would
cause the garrison to succumb. To assault, or even
to being set on fire, the castle appears impregnable.

Perched some 2000 feet above the town, the
Lama temple overrides the castle itself. The
buildings consist of a warren of crumbling rooms
built of mud, of precipitous flights of stone steps,
and of small courtyards on difierent levels, joined
by goat -tracks overhanging sheer drops many
hundreds of feet down. At odd corners and out-

16 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

side dilapidated doorways are many prayer- wheels ;
whilst tattered flags and rags for warding ofi* the
ever -to -be -feared demons adorn the roofs and
equally tumble-down walls.

Nor can the interior be said to be any more pre-
possessing. In the inner holy of holies is the
Buddhist shrine. The room or haQ in which it
stands is usually kept so darkened that nothing can
be seen but the immediate front of the altar ; upon
the latter burn one or two miserable oil- wicks, and
behind these, and partly screening the hideous figure
itself, are heavy faded hangings, which may have
once been clean. Upon either side of the altar
stand silver manis^ and behind these some of the
flat oblong-shaped wood-covered books which contain
the sacred writings.

In another hall, some thirty feet square, is a large
figure of Chamba. Three-quarters of its length
stands erect within the chamber but not the whole ;
the upper portion is continued outside, above, and
so to speak through the roof, in order that the eyes
of the figure may rest afar upon the snow -clad
mountain-ranges surrounding its picturesque abode.

The roof, walls, and pillars of the hall are covered
with various representative figures and scenes in
what was formerly bright red, blue, and yellow
paint. Among these figures are many used by the
Chinese in their Buddhist temples : traced in colour
upon the walls are also what appear to be Chinese
characters. It may be thought that, for the people
for whom they are intended, both the figures and
the religion they teach are sufl&cient inducements
to moral improvement; and did the present-day

A DEGRADED BUDDHISM. 17

Buddhism of Ladak even faintly retain the teaching
of its great master there might be some hope. But
we know it is not so. Priest-ridden and terrorised
over by means of threats as to his future state, the
Ladaki peasant has no real religion. His one and
only thought is the propitiation of his unseen yet
none the less dreaded demons, and such religion
as he has is merely used as a means to rob and
degrade him by those whose bounden duty it is
to help him upwards.

CHAPTER 11.

PBEFABING THE CARAVAN — LADAK 8LIHNESS — HOBSE - BUTING BT
ARBITRATION — A GRAND POLO-MATOH IN THE STREET AT LEH —
THE LAPCHACK MISSION — THE DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING A START —
TRAINING AS A CURE FOR MOUNTAIN SICKNESS — A PRDflTITE PAIR
OF SCALES — THE SILENT LAND — HOW TO DRITB A YAK— HUNTING
THE TIBETAN HABE.

At Leh the serious preparations for the journey to
Peking commenced. So far as could be calculated,
we did not expect to reach that capital until the
following spring. And throughout all this distance
there was little or no chance for renewing the few
European stores we intended to carry.

Previous experience had made us only too well
aware how the necessities of civilisation become the
luxuries of such journeys as we contemplated, yet
it was not without inward qualms that such daily
commodities as butter, milk, jam, potatoes, and
vegetables were one by one erased from the list.
In the end the staff of life, in the shape of flour,
formed by far the largest portion of our transport.
Meat it was unnecessary to trouble about, even in
the compressed form, as our rifles could supply what
was necessary; but army rations, Bovril lozenges,
sardines, sugar, and a little jam and some tapioca,
made up our luxuriea Baking-powder, tea, coffee,

OOMMT88ARTAT PBOBLSICS. 19

and cocoa we looked upon as necessities ; and I also
brought from home a small store of the best French
(Marquis) chocolate, without which it is unwise ever
to quit civilisation. For liquor there was of course
no room, with the exception of four bottles of the
best brandy for medicinal purposes.

Having made out the lists of food, the most
difficult problem of all had then to be faced, in
the shape of deciding how much, or rather how
little, grain must be taken to feed aU the animals
of which our caravan was composed. In Tibet
the daily ration that can be carried is extremely
limited. It might seem at first thought that the
difficulty is merely one of numbers, and that if
more grain is required, the traveller has only to
buy more animals, — supposing, that is, that there
happen to be any to buy. A moment's reflec-
tion, however, will show that the problem is not
so simpla Assume, as we did, that twenty-five
ponies would carry all our kit and surveying in-
struments, and afford us each an animal to ride
when necessary. There are then so many pounds
of grain for each of these animals to feed upon,
which must be carried somewhere. A three months'
supply was the least we dared to start with, and
at 2 lb. a pony per day, a slight calculation will
show that thi^ months' supplies soon run into
four figures. Again the matter becomes one of
simple calculation. Each pony can carry a load of
about 150 lb. To load over 4000 lb. weight of grain
thirty more ponies must be bought. Suppose that
they are available and are purchased, where are we
now? Unfortunately at exactly the point where

20 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

we started, for the thirty fresh ponies must each
have 2 lb. of grain a -day, and who is to carry
that?

It was with such and similar trifling problems
as these that our stay in Leh was beguiled. By
the help of the Assistant British Commissioner, to
whom we owe a debt of gratitude not easily paid,
we eventually triumphed over all obstacles, and
after this manner. The original number of twenty-
five ponies was bought. To carry the grain, thirty
yak were also purchased, with the intention that
they might drop out as their work was done. One
of the few good points these animals possess is that
they themselves require no grain; and besides the
yak a certain number of ponies were hired to go
as far with us into Tibet as their owners would.

The main question being settled, we turned to
what was to my companion and myself a labour
of love — viz., the purchase of the ponies. A few
hours spent in the serai soon showed us that the
word " slimness " is not unknown even in far Ladak.
No sooner did we select some less ragged-looking
hill-pony than the rest but he at once became the
possessor of every virtue horseflesh is heir to.

It was useless to point to a barely healed sore
back, or to teeth that made him at least a score
of years old ; we were assured that this was
merely Western prejudice, and even if things were
as we suggested, what matter! To such Eastern
logic the West, if it be wise, pays no attention.
Argument is merely breath wasted. Freedom of
speech a native vendor must have, and granted his
right to talk incessantly, and sufficient patience on

.ii

A COMMITTEE OF 0RETBEARD8. 21

the part of the buyer, the odds are not so very
great in favour of the Asiatic. After playing to
the gallery for some hours, we began to look for
the way round, and it was soon discovered.

As in London so in Leh, when in doubt appoint
a committee. In London the latter means blue
books. In Leh it means more conversation and
much tea. For our purchasing committee we
suggested four of the local greybeards to act
as referees.

The sellers were to state their price : we stated
our price, and the greybeards struck the happy
medium. In two days the choicest of horseflesh
then in Leh became our property at an averac^e
price of about £5 a head, the pV«viou8 figure havi^
been more than double.

During those two days of the sale the compound
of the little ''rest-house" knew no peace. Swarms
of wild-looking ruffians with equally ragged ponies
hung round all day, and during the hours that the
committee figuratively sat, Bamet fair was a joke
to it. Thanks to the Assistant Commissioner, all
this time our yak were being collected for us at
Tankse, a village we had to pass through soon after
quitting Leh. But bad fortune for once met us
over the yak, for the previous spring and autiunn
had seen a bad outbreak of cattle plague, which
had carried off hundreds of these beasts, causing
heavy losses to the poor villagers, and making even
inferior animals exceedingly scarce. Curiously,
neither ponies nor mules suiSered at all from the
outbreak*

Having purchased the animals, it was necessary

22 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAROO POLO.

to provide all the remaining impedimenta^ such as
pack-saddles, extra shoes, hobbles, feeding - bags,
and many other minor articles, and also to engage
more caravan men.

Once more we were indebted to the kind assist-
ance of the Assistant Commissioner, and our fol-
lowing was soon complete. It consisted, all told,
of six pony men — not including the hired men —
with a caravan htxshi or headman, and later on
five yak men. Our own party was made up of
Captain Layard, Lall Singh, our Sikh surveyor, and
his servant, Abdull, a young Mohammedan servant
of Layard's, and Bamzani, a Punjaubi servant, who
bad afterwards to be sent back, and myself.

Each day at Leh was fully occupied with final
preparations. Not tmtil the necessity actually
arises is it possible to remember everything re-
quired; and more than once, when lists seemed
finally completed and final orders given, was it
found that there yet remained another day's work
in the bazars.

During the summer months there are few more
delightful spots in India than Leh. The British
Joint Commissioner is provided with a fairly good
house, and the efforts of succeeding occupants have
made its immediate surroundings still more pleas-
ing. A charming garden, shaded with fine old
trees, and lawns which remind the exile of his
own English grass, are the chief attractions to a
perpetual open-air life, itself so delightful. Mag-
nificent views are obtained of the higher snow-
ranges on the far side of the Indus ; and there in
the well-earned intervals of a busy summer the

THB BANDSMEN OF LEH. 23

Commigsioner can usually find the sport and the
heads for which Northern Kashmir is so justly
&med.

One afternoon during our stay at Leh we were
invited to an entertainment to be given by the
Wazir Sahib, the chief attraction of which was
to be the marriage of his son. Incidentally the
rejoicings were to include polo, — a game which,
strange as it may seem, the people of these
mountain regions are very fond o£

Amved at our host's house, situated in a prettily
shaded garden, we found a tent pitched, whence,
after the usual courtesies, the party adjourned to
the upper storey of one of the houses situated
upon the main street of the town. This street,
said to be the work of a particularly enterprising
former British Joint Commissioner, is about 350
to 400 yards long and 50 to 60 feet wide. It
is bordered on both sides by fine rows of trees,
which give shade to the lines of shops stretching
without break throughout three parts of its entire
length. Gazing down into the street below fix>m
our balconies, we were surprised to see that both
sides of the street held a large number of the
townspeople, also groups of ponies, and men with
mallets, who appeared to be setting saddles, girths,
and their own costumes in readiness for some un-
usual display.

Immediately opposite the balconies we were in,
and across the street, a dozen ancient musicians
were seated on a small raised platform under the
trees. Their instruments were a quaint collection
of boms and drums, and of such as one's childish

24 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

mind recalls as remotely connected with the fall
of the walls of Jericho.

Inquiring in our innocence what the preparations
in progress below betokened, we were surprised to
hear that we were about to witness the royal game
of polo.

" But polo," we said, " up and down the streets
of the town ? "

" Yes, sahib," said the Wazir ; " and why not ? "

And as the Joint Commissioner whispered, " There
is no County Council here," we faintly began to
wonder why we suffered such things to exist at
home. But the moment was not one for reflection
upon such matters.

Led by a good-looking man on a grey at least
fourteen hands high, the players were beginning
to take up their positions.

In the twentieth century it is a little diflBcult
at times to realise all that the improvements in
modern methods of travel have done for this
generation. But it was forcibly brought home
that afternoon as visions of the last time I had
watched polo crossed my mind. Shortly before
leaving England, about the middle of Jime, Hur-
lingham, in all the freshness and beauty of the
early siunmer, was in full swing, and there I had
seen the pick of the world for ponies and men
hard at work in a first-class match. Barely eight
weeks later I was again watching polo, but under
conditions so changed as to make Hurlingham
almost a dream.

Of the Leh game, from the expert point of
view, criticism is not easy. Though the players

PICrUBESQUE POLO. 26

numbered five a -side, and were mounted for the
most part on tiny hill-ponies about twelve hands
high, there seemed to be less hustling and go
about the game than might be expected. Pos-
sibly the presence of the Wazir's son, and the
size of the pony he rode, which turned out to
be the big grey, had something to do with this :
it may also have been connected with the general
apparent insecurity of straps, girths, and even
bridles, — for anjrthing like the collection which
covered the little ponies is not often seen outside
a gipsy camp.

Whatever the reason was, the game qiid polo
resolved itself into repeated runs down by one
player after another, — whoever, in fact, happened
at the time to be in possession of the ball. Very
slight was the attempt ever to stop him ; and as
ponies became blown it was no unusual thing to
see the last runner -down dismount and breathe
his animal, while taking little if any notice of
the game. The one point about the latter which
did attract attention was when, after a pause, it
was necessary to make a fresh start. Then a
player would pick up the ball, and holding it in
one hand, with his stick in the other, start at
full gaUop down the street. When about half-
way-a liberal interpretation of the half-way mark
being usually allowed — he threw up the ball and,
still galloping, endeavoured to strike it in the
air. If successful in doing so, which was not
often the case, a good run down and a goal into
a butcher's shop at the town end of the street
was usually the result. This was the signal for

26 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

general applause and, what was as amusing as
any part of the game, a feco^fiil tom-tomming
and blowing of horns by the antiquated per-
formers opposite our stand. In between - whiles
these ancients appeared to take no interest in
the game — at least not until, as sometimes hap-
pened, a ball came ricochetting into the middle of
them off some neighbouring tree.

After about an hour the match was declared at
an end. Not having been able always to follow
the sequence of goals, and anxious not to con-
gratulate the wrong people, I inquired of the
courteous native gentleman by my side which
team had won. So evidently upset did he ap-
pear to be that I felt at once such a detail was
considered unworthy of notice. In Leh, as with
ourselves, polo is still one of the purest forms
of sport, and that it may long remain so waa
our inward and earnest wish.

As has already been said in the early portion
of this chapter, Leh is the starting - point for
most of the Central Asiatic expeditions into
Tibet or into Chinese Turkestan.

From Leh also is still sent a curious mediaeval
mission to Lhasa, known as the Lapchack Mission,
of which in its present-day guise some account
may be of interest.

The Lapchack commercial embassy is said to be
of very old standing. Before the time of the Dogra
conquest of Ladak, in 1841, it was the means of
transmitting tribute as well as of cementing mutual
trade, but is now considered both by the Kashmir
and British authorities to have no political signifi-

THE LAPCHACK MI88ION. 27

canoe. It was established on its present footing in
1842, when a treaty was concluded between Lhasa
and Ladak to demarcate the north-east frontier of
the latter country. The arrangement was, and, so
&x as the despatch of the caravan, still is, that
every third year a JMfUa should leave Ladak for
Lhasa, consisting of 270 yak- or pony-loads of goods,
and that it should be conducted by a representative
of the Maharajah of Kashmir, chosen by the Wazir
of Ladak. For just that number of loads is carriage
provided by the Lhasa authorities £jx>m Ghur — a
lamasery near Rudok in Tibet — to Lhasa on the
outward journey, and fix>m Lhasa to the first
villages or encampments in Ladak on the return
journey.

The Maharajah's representative used to be taken
firom a Ladak family of eminence, as no other
person, not even a Dogra of high rank firom the
Maharajah's own court, would be welcomed — ^prob-
ably, indeed, would not be received into the
capital of Tibet. The post of leader of the
Lapchack Mission, though held only for one term,
was much valued, as the profits generally en-
riched the family between whom and the Maha-
rajah's government they used to be divided. The
goods sent firom Ladak are dried apricots — the
most bulky portion of the consignment, — currants,
saffron, and textile fabrics firom European and
Indian looms. On the return journey the chief
goods are shawls, wool, and tea. Complimentary
letters were sent to the Grand Lama and his
Ministers, and also to the heads of certain of
the monasteries; and with each went a small

28 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

present, the nature of which is laid down and
did not vary. The embassy, which is absent
nearly a year, brought back corresponding letters
and presents.

The leader transacted his business with the
Ministers, but paid ceremonial visits to the Dalai
Lama.

In addition to the presents, there is reason to
believe that the Lapchack Embassy was also pro-
vided with the following, which was paid by it
to the treasurer at Lhasa : —

10 small bags of gold-dust, value each Rs. 8 . Rs. 80

1^ seers of saffron . . . .60

5 pieces of native cloth, each of a separate value

of Rs. 1 • . .5

Rs. 135

These three items are known as sahtal or ground-
tax, and a receipt was given by the treasurer at
Lhasa, which the Lapchack brought back to Ladak.

Even so great an authority as Ney Elias has
written that it is difl&cult to estimate how far the
sahtal or ground -tax, paid or presented to the
treasurer of Lhasa, was regarded by the Tibetan
authorities as nazar or tribute ; but by the
government of Kashmir it was certainly looked
upon in the light of a present only, and as the
return for the provisions, &c., with which the
agent and his party were supplied during a part
of their stay in Lhasa. Again, the treasurer at
Lhasa was a servant of the native government,
and was appointed by the Deva Jung or Grand
Lama, not by the Chinese officials, and his receipt

THB KABAKORAM BOUTE. 29

set forth that the sahtcd had been paid into the
Deva Jung's treasury. The fact of the treasurer
giving a formal receipt while the other recipients
of presents gave none; secondly, that he sent
no return presents ; thirdly, that the word sahtcd
means literally land-tax, would be reasons in favour
of regarding the presents or payments, which were
made to the Lhasa treasury, as tribute paid by
Ladak to Chinese Tibet. But against this must
be placed the following considerations : first, that
scJUcU of similar value was given by the Lapchack
for many years before the agreement was made ;
and secondly, that in those years when no Lap-
chack went to Lhasa no sahtcd was paid.

The distinction between presents of friendship on
the one hand, and tribute as a sign of dependency
on the other, is always very loosely drawn by
Asiatics; nor do the names of taxes, duties, &c.,
always designate accurately the purpose for which
they are levied.

Whatever the Ladakis may now think of the
meaning of the sahtcd and presents, I have no
doubt that the Chinese authorities at Lhasa still
look upon them, and — if they considered it to be
of any advantage to themselves — would describe
them as tribute.

Before quitting Leh mention must be made of
the Karakoram route, which is the main highway
for such trade as exists between Chinese Turkestan
and British India.

This route leads to Yarkand, over the Kadongla,
a glacier pass 17,500 feet above sea -level. After
surmounting this difficult ascent, the track runs

30 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

for thirty-two days' march over a barren desolate
country, devoid of all supplies, to Yarkand.

That the trade with Chinese Turkestan is never
likely to become of anything but local importance
may be accepted as a fact. During the time spent
at Leh, I had the opportunity of being present at a
meeting between the British Joint Commissioner
and some native merchants interested in this trade-
route.

Among other topics, one subject of discussion was
tea, which some of the merchants were sanguine
enough to hope might be exported from Bombay
as brick tea, at such prices as would enable it to
compete favourably at Tarkand with the Chinese
article. A very brief comparison of the prices at
which the tea could be placed on the market at
the latter place sufficed to show that those engaged
in the export of the Indian article would be un
likely to make a fortune.

On the 29th August our caravan left Leh. A
first march-out is invariably a difficulty, no matter
how careful the overnight arrangements may be ;
and we considered ourselves lucky, to have got
the twenty-eight animals loaded-up and away by
7.80 A.M. But our self- congratulation was some-
what premature.

During the last week at Leh we had hired one
of the grassy haghs on the outskirts of the town,
for the purpose of feeding up our stud. Unfor-
tunately, the route at starting, on the morning of
the 29th, lay for some distance in the same direction
as that with which the ponies were so familiar, and
which led to their beloved hagh. All went well

A GALLANT PONY. 31

until the parting of the ways was reached, and then
the trouble began. First one pony and then another
kept breaking away towards the garden ; loads
began to shift as the ponies broke into a canter
in response to our efforts to round them up ; and
the final catastrophe came when a little black, more
headstrong than any of them, completely dislodged
the two yakdans he carried. Down crashed all
the methylated spirit, careftdly stored for use with
the h3rpsometer ; also our four bottles of '* medical
comforts."

Having called a halt, loads were replaced. Thanks
to the excellence of the Srinagar yakdans^ nothing
was broken, and to enable him to work off his super-
abundant spirits, the black pony became from that
moment my own riding animal. It is but fair to
his memory to state that he carried me daily many
a weary mile over the forsaken wastes of North -
West Tibet, as well as through the dreadful gorges
in the Kuen Lun mountains. Starved by day and
frozen by night, his gallant little spirit never failed
hioL And it was not until completely worn out,
some months later, that he finally broke down, dying
by a water-hole in the edge of the Takla Makan
desert in Chinese Turkestan.

It is not until Leh is left behind that the traveller
feels he has cut the painter which has so far bound
him to civilisation. And even after quitting that
place, for a few days villages and cultivation are
still found. Tankse is a poor hamlet situated on
the far side of the Chang-la from Leh, lying at
the opposite end of a small valley leading to
another hamlet, Durgu by name. The Chang-la,

32 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

17,000 feet high, is the most severe of the three
passes separating Leh from the Tibet border. It
is approached up the Chimray valley, in which
stands a picturesque lamasery, and also a village
of the same name.

Crossing the Chang-la was the first experience
our party had of such heights, and we were pre-
pared to feel the effects of the rarefied air in the
form of the usual mountain sickness. We had
endeavoured, so far as it is possible to do so, to
prepare ourselves and the men for these high
altitudes by walking all the intermediate passes
from the Zoji on to Leh. Not only did we train
ourselves gradually uphill, but we also carried
our theory so far as by degrees to increase the
pace up some of the easier passes. Whether the
theory of previous training is of universal applica-
tion or not it is impossible to say, but the fact
remains that neither my companion nor myself
was ever affected with either headache or nausea
during the whole time spent in North- West Tibet,
and that, too, living at an average of 16,000 to
17,000 feet for about two months.

In addition to the physical training referred to,
we made use of all the usual palliatives — feeding
sparsely, eating pieces of chocolate at frequent
intervals, and taking pinches of chlorate of potash.
That the natives are not immune we found to our
cost; for the Punjaubi servant who had arranged
to accompany me throughout the whole journey
collapsed, and had to be sent back to India.
Some of our caravan men were also affected, but
they, perhaps, had more physical strain in helping

A HDTT FOB CLIMBERS. 33

the animals than we had. To carry a load, or
in any way to interfere with the action of the
heart and lungs, is, I believe, sufficient to bring
on an attack, when otherwise no ill effect would
be felt. So far can this be proved, that we found,
from watching the natives, that the best position
to assume while climbing was to hold the body
upright, and, as they did, carry one's khud stick
held across the small of the back through the elbow
jointa Although, as has been said, we experienced
no difficulty in becoming used to the rarity of the
air, any but the most ordinary exertion will soon
remind the traveller that he can take no liberties
at these altitudes. To talk while climbing the
Chang-la very soon reduced the rate of progress
to a standstUL Later on, at greater heights, in
blowing the nose, to cover the mouth with the
handkerchief and to continue walking produced a
choking effect. To smoke and face even a gentle
incline were two actions quite incompatible. To
crawl while stalking is most exhausting and cannot
be continued, while any attempt to run, even though
it be only a hundred yards, is to fall down gasping.
Strange as these unusual experiences may sound to
those who dwell almost at sea-level, the cause is no
secret in spite of native theories. The explana-
tion Lb simple and natural At such heights the
amount of air and oxygen taken into the lungs
at each inhalation is considerably less than what
would enter them at sea-leveL To right this state
of affisdrs the climber endeavours to inhale more
oxygen, unconsciously, perhaps, breathes quickly
and more powerfully, and so makes matters worse.

34 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

The actual causes of these symptoms are thus easily
defined, being first the deficiency of oxygen in the
air; secondly, a diminished atmospheric pressure;
thirdly, deficient moisture.

Towards the summit of the Chang-la, my pony,
which I was leading, stopped every fifty yard&
Though not so distressed as those carrying loads,
he continued to heave great gasps, and his heart
could be felt thumping painfully against his ribs.
Our caravan ponies showed no particular signs of
distress beyond what might have been expected,
but three of the hired animals collapsed exhausted
immediately upon gaining the simimit of the pass.

Having reached Tankse, we found the man fix>m
Leh who had been sent ahead to arrange for the
purchase of the necessary yak.

We had hoped to find everything ready, and that
there would be no necessity to camp more than the
night ; but as usual, where time and an Asiatic
come in contact, our hopes were vain. A conclave
of the elders revealed the fact that a severe epidemic
had raged all over the country the previous year,
—over 2000 yak had succumbed to a species of foot-
and-mouth disease, and of that number 300 in the
Tanske-Durgu valley alone. As for selecting from
a mob, as we had hoped to do, it was with the
utmost diflficulty, after a fortnight's scouring of the
few surrounding hamlets, that thirty-five could be
collected for us. We finally purchased thirty, pack
saddles included, the price proportionately increased
by the unusual scarcity.

From Tankse it had also been arranged by the
British Commissioner at Leh that we should draw

PRDiiriVE SCALES. 35

from the Grovemment store the greater part of our
grain.

The Tankse granary is a quaint spot even in that
fieur-away hamlet, and consists of a small block of
adobe buildings set inside a tiny grove of trees,
which afford the only shade in the valley.

Groing to inspect the grain, we stumbled from the
glaring simlight into a dark room, and before the
eye could discern anything, were invited to climb to
an upper storey by means of a crooked and very
irregular ladder. In the centre of the upper room
we found our grain spread out, a trifle of some
seventy maunds.^

In order to weigh the gram— a very necessary
proceeding — an antiquated arrangement was pro-
duced, consisting of two old skin scales hung by bits
of mended string to a crooked stick. Together,
these held 2 lb., and as we had to weigh between
five and six thousand pounds, the prospect of our
ever getting beyond Tankse appeared for the moment
somewhat remote.

We all know the copy-book maxim, and the in-
vention finally did appear, in the shape of a wooden
pot, thirteen of which it was soon ascertained went
to one maund.

Thb in the hands — and very dirty ones— of an
ancient greybeard, eventually solved the problem.
Squatting on the floor, half covered by the grain
which he proceeded to measure, he incessantly sang
the various number of pots in such a monotonous
chant that we were soon driven below again, leaving
the grain to Lall Singh to finish.

^ 1 maund »8S poondi.

36 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HABCO POLO.

Between Tankse and the next pass, the Masemick,
the Poongoon lake is passed. This considerable
sheet of water forms the border line between Kash-
mir and the Chang-Chenmo. The lake lies at an
elevation of nearly 14,000 feet above the sea-level,
and though of a lovely deep blue colour is brackish
to the taste.

On the western shores high snow-capped peaks
reach over 18,000 feet, though these do not rise
abruptly from the lake edga An older lake level
is clearly discernible, especially on the eastern shore,
where indications show a previous height thirty
feet above the present.

Our route lay past the north end of the lake,
turning aside from a track leading along it to
Budok, at the southern end of the chain.

The Chang-Chenmo valley is a forerunner of the
uninhabited plateaux which, with their surrounding
higher mountain ranges, go to make up North
West Tibet. Geographically it belongs to Kashmir,
but in its physical characteristics it is part and
parcel of that other lone land into which we were
about to venture. To this sense of loneliness must
be added the depressing effect produced by an entire
absence of any kind of vegetation — for the few spots
where tufts of grass afford scanty grazing for herds
of antelope and kyang cannot be called by that
name — or of any sign of himian habitation.

By the time we had traversed the Chang-Chenmo,
a highland waste composed of uninhabited valleys,
the spell of that lonesome land was upon us. I have
frequently been asked to describe that portion of
Tibet through which our route lay, but have invari-

THE 8ILEKT PLACES. 37

ably failed to satisfy myself by the answer given.
The main characteristic it undoubtedly possesses
gives the key to its general description, and that
is its vast solitariness. Who does not know the
feeling of one's own insignificance and impotence
in the face of stupendous natural surroundings ? In
Northern Tibet that feeling is never absent. En-
circled on all sides by the eternal snows of those
sublime regions, which stretch apparently without
end as far as human vision can reach. What is
man ? Bange upon range, peak behind peak, spot-
less in its intense purity, brilUant in the dazzling
sunshine, the illimitable panorama stretches before
him. How small and insignificant in comparison
appears the existence of mere human beings I

It was upon the summit of the Masemick-la,
slightly under 18,000 feet above sea-level, that we
met the last European we were to see for nearly
eight months. Though natural enough on the con-
fines of India that he should be an Englishman, in
this case an o£Scer of the 15th Hussars in quest
of heads, it was somewhat curious that the first
European met by us in the far north-west of China
should also have been an Englishman, in the latter
case a gentleman in the service of the Bible Society.
Exchanging greetings, and declining the kindly
offer to empty his cigarette-case, we bade good-bye
to our firiend and set our faces towards the Tibet
border now only a few miles distant.

Before reaching the last of the three high passes
leading into Tibet we camped one night by some
natural hot springs. These springs serve to break
the deadly monotony in a valley which only differed

38 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

from scores like it in the possession of a little
grazing.

Already our yak began to require a rest ; for one
of the drawbacks attending the use of these patient
but slow-moving beasts is that they are easily over-
marched and then go off their feed. Their favourite
pace can only be described as funereal, nor will
anything on earth induce them to mend it. Great
skill is required to handle them, and little short of
a lifetime to learn the peculiar shrill whistle, the
only noise to which they pay any attention. K,
in addition to these accomplishments, the traveller
is as expert as David was in the use of stones
as missiles, he may hope, if he is sufficiently mis-
guided, to take some share in the driving of his
own yak.

Other and more engrossing details occupied our
daily attention. The only help we could ever offer
was to make certain that those beasts which did
succumb to the hardships of the march should not
be left to a lingering death.

While halting one day to rest the caravan, we
explored the hot springs. The highest temperature
discovered in any of the various pools did not ex-
ceed 65** Fahrenheit. The water in them is generally
of a creamy white colour, but in some places a peaty
brown. Slime of the same white colour oozes up
continually, but the bottoms of the pools when
disturbed show black mud. There is a slight salt-
like deposit round some of the holes, but to the
taste they are more sulphurous than salt. Short
gra^ grows in the vicinity in hummicks. It is
unsafe to try to cross the surface of the ground

THE TIBETAN HARE. 39

in the vicinity of the pools. In attempting to do
80, the pony I was riding was engulfed over his
knees.

In this valley we made our first acquaintance
with the Tibetan hare. The attraction which drew
them, no doubt, was the grass. A five-mile tramp
produced five hares, though to maintain even that
average it was necessary to have recourse to
methods which partook more of the poacher than
the sportsman.

The Tibetan hare has a woolly coat, rather long
ears, and a long grey scut. The hind quarters are
of a greyer tinge than the rest of the coat, which,
as usual, nature had coloured to local surroundings.
He is smaller than our English species, and though,
owing to his woolly coat, he appears a fairly sub*
stantial beast, we found what appeared to be a
heavy animal to be only five pounds. Fired by
the hare himt, we had arranged to look for larger
game in the vicinity of camp the following morning.
After an early meal we walked uphill in a side
nullah for three miles, the equivalent perhaps of a
nine-mile tramp on flat ground at sea-level. The
nullah contained no tracks, nor did there appear to
be any sign of game about. Asking one of our
men what chance he thought there was, he calmly
pointed to a snow-clad range eight miles beyond,
saying that that was where he intended to begin,
and adding that we might get back by 7 p.m.
Having come out for a stroll, and being without
food or ponies, we thought discretion the better
part, so decided to return to camp and more
pressing duties. Thus may a thirst for big game

40 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

be temporarily quenched by the difficulty of com-
bating the rarefied atmosphere on one's own feet.

A week of bad weather with rain and hail storms
had caused us to fear the early approach of winter,
but as we neared the last of the three high passes
which lead into Tibet, a change in the weather took
place. To say that North- West Tibet is, at any
time, a cheerful climate, is to go beyond the truth,
but to deny that it has its softer moments would
be equally misleading.

The early portion of the day frequently raises
hopes of favours to come. But a very slight ac-
quaintance with the country is sufficient to induce
a less optimistic view. Up to 9.80 A.M. we found it
occasionally possible to sit outside our tents, bask-
ing in a sun of sufficient strength to warm the body
thoroughly. Within half an hour, as often as not,
it was hailing and snowing or both, while a westerly
wind cut like a razor, chilling one to the bone.
Were it not for the wind, the remorseless west
wind, the country might just be bearable, but when
Nature automatically switches on the daily sample
at 9.30 A.M., and when that sample is such that no
amount of skin coats can withstand it, mere human
endurance must in the long-run succumb.

On September 16 we crossed the Lanak-la, which
we made to be just under 18,000 feet above sea-
level. It is the easiest of the three passes already
referred to, so long as snow has not fallen, and in
this respect we had timed our crossing welL

CHAPTER III.

nraEoro tibit— thb Dmcnoir ov "thx lama" — robbibb —

BTALUHO USnOBB DXTFICUI^TIBB— A HXAYT 8LBBFIHO-8UIT — THB
CURZON RAVOB AHD KIXOHXNXB OBOUP — OHABAOTBB OV THB
LADAKI — HWTB ON TBAVBPOBT— THB BIBTOBT OV TIBBT.

Once over the Lanak-la the traveller has entered
Tibet proper, and may be forgiven for not being
able to repress something of the feeling which must
have crossed the minds of early ocean navigators
when they found themselves far from any base,
dependent for their very existence upon the favour
of wind and weather. To carry our simile farther
is to increase its force. In Tibet not only is the
voyager dependent upon the favour of the climate
for his actual safety, but his caravan is his ship, and
the loss of the former to him is as the loss of the
latter to the navigator. In either case the chances
of surviving are small.

Among the discomforts attendant upon travelling
in North -West Tibet, the entire absence of wood,
or even brushwood, is not the least. What this
means in ordinary camp -life everybody who has
ever tried it knows. At the altitudes at which
we were forced to live the discomfort caused by
the absence of all fuel save hoorUa and yak

42 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

dung is easily imagined. Boortsa is a close-
growing wormwood which has long roots. It is
foimd in most parts of North -West Tibet, but
not everywhere. At such altitudes man's hourly
cavtog Tfor wannth, and it remaio. always J
satisfied.

Over the Lanak-la the country in places con-
tained large herds of antelope. To obtain food is
not difficult, but the attempt to add a good head to
the collection is. So much so — owing partly to the
physical difficulty of creeping and crawling at such
a height, also to the fact that one might equally
well endeavour to stalk on a billiard -table, — that
the sportsman is soon content to spy without
stalking.

One week after crossing the Lanak-la the hired
men and their ponies who had accompanied us so
far from Tankse had had enough of it. It was
only by bribery that we had induced them to stick
to us so far, and as they were becoming every
morning less willing to leave camp we decided to
pay them off From the very start we had found
that the men hired to look after the yak caravan
were not to be trusted, and our suspicions were
again aroused by their eagerness to drop a yak —
not forgetting his load — without any valid reason.
It did not at first occur to us that there was any-
thing more in this than the usual laziness of the
caravan men where their master's and not their own
interests are concerned. But a circumstance which
happened the day it became known the hired men
were shortly to return, completely gave away the
yak men and their little plot. Before quitting Leh

(CmTTTTi Y «%«^ A "

THE LAMA« 43

strict instructions had been issued that a report of
either ponies or yak having dropped out on the
march should invariably be made as soon as those
in charge reached camp.

At the daily inspection of animals one afternoon
we found three yak missing, and no report had been
made. Calling up the head driver, known in the
caravan as '' the Lama/' from the filthy red robe he
never took off, we questioned him as to the missing
animala The usual string of excuses and evasions
was the only answer which could be got ; so as it
was necessary to make an example, we ordered out
our tired ponies, and with '' the Lama " in attend-
ance on foot, rode back six miles to find just what
we had expected. Quietly grazing within a short
distance of one another were the three yak, and
near to them their three loads of precious grain,
a coat, and some other odds and ends. There could
be little doubt now as to the meaning of what we
had found. All had been carefully left behind, to
be picked up by the hired men on their return
towards Leh next day.

Of course " the Lama," falling on his knees, pro-
tested ignorance of everything, but as we had fairly
caught him, it was a time to assert our authority.
Collecting the yak and reloading them, we gave
him to understand that he must drive them into
camp that night, or nothing short of annihilation
wotild atone for his wickedness. Then we ourselves
mounted our ponies and rode back the six weary
miles m a blinding snow - storm, finding our only
consolation in the fact that *' the Lama " was at that
moment even more miserable than ourselves.

44 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

During the next few days one other contretemps
occurred hefore we made it clear to our following
that we intended to run our own show, and it
happened thus : Having arranged one morning for
an earlier start than usual, we were sreeted on
awakenbg with the dep,«stog aonouncSTot that
sixteen of the ponies were missing. The full
significance of the loss did not at first strike us,
owing to the fact that it was not unusual for the
ponies to stray during the night in search of ground
to graze upon.

Unless the weather was very bad, it w€U3 our
custom to turn all the animals loose at dusk after
their evening pound of grain had been eaten.
Their own instinct usually kept them in some
more or less sheltered nullah, and being, cus we
were, nightly camped by whatever water there was,
the scattered tufts of grazing were as a rule to be
found close at hand.

With the comforting reflection that nothing worse
than a prolonged stray had happened, the pony-
men not already away were sent to help in the
search, while the daily packing of camp proceeded.
Up till ten o'clock we possessed our souls in patience,
with no news of the runaways. But as hour after
hour passed, the situation began to appear serious.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, as we were about to
get on our ponies to join in the search, great was
our relief to see first the caravan hashiy then all the
ponies and the men descending the stony hillside
behind the camp.

What happened was this. At about three in the
morning the man on watch in camp dozed, as he

A HTBTEBIOUB ROBBERY. 45

afterwards confessed, overcome by the cold, and un-
able to keep awake. Finding their nearer approach
unnoticed, the cJiapkas or robbers, who must for
some nights have been waiting their opportunity,
stole in and drove off seven of the best ponies. By
the selection made there could be little doubt that
they were in collusion with some one in the caravan.
Not content with this haul, and their presence
being still undiscovered, the robbers then removed
nine more ponies, leaving behind only eight of the
worst and least serviceable.

So far we probably learnt the true story of our
loss, but to this day I am by no means certain that
we w«e .ver faUy informed « to the true story of
the recovery. The account given by the caravan
bcuhi^ and of course confirmed by the rest of the
men, was that they found the tracks and had
started to trace the ponies up one of the side
nullahs. After fift^een miles they began to over-
take the chapkds^ but the latter, seeing that the
game was up, and that the chances of escape with
the proceeds of their midnight raid became moment-
arily less, gave over the attempt to drive off the
mob of ponies, and themselves vanished among the
network of surrounding nullah&

Cross -questioned by us, the men individuaUy
stuck to their story, and being once more in pos-
session of our animals we accepted the lesson with
inward gratitude for their recovery, at the same
time vowing by the Providence that watches over
travellers such a thing should not occur again.

Aft^er parting with our hired men and purchasing
from them a few of the best of their ponies, we

46 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO,

turned our steps north towards the Kuen Lun
mountains.

Previous accounts given by travellers who have
penetrated into Central and Southern Tibet agree
always in referring to the numberless herds of ani-
mals — antelope, yak, and kyang — which swarmed
over the country through which they passed. It
may be of interest from the point of view of natural
history to state that the reverse was found to be
the case in North- West Tibet. During the period
spent by us in that inhospitable region, the only
animals which could in any sense of the term be
considered common were the Tibetan antelope, and
these, never in large herds, practically disappeared
as we approached the southern side of the Kuen
Lim range.

Of yak and kyang we saw hardly any, and the
bagging of our first and, as it turned out, only yak
was marked as a red-letter day.

In order to provide meat for the followers, to
enjoy a better chance of sport, and to select a spot
to camp at in the evening, it was our custom for
one of us to ride each day ahead of the caravan.
The other always remained with it to keep an
eye upon stragglers, to watch that the pedometer
wheel was properly run, and to exercise a general
supervision.

One day I had been lucky enough to knock over
a fair antelope head at a height of 17,300 feet and
at a somewhat long range, and, as usually happens
in fulfilment of the adage that to him who hath
shall be given, fortune decreed that it was again
my turn for advance-guard when we came across

BTALKINO A YAK. 47

the first yak. It was a bright and, for Tibet, wind-
lees morning when one of the men, who was with
me some distance ahead of the caravan, suddenly
uttered the word doong (yak), pointing at the same
time to a black speck upon the nearest ridge to our
left. A glance through a 12-power Zeiss glass soon
confirmed the man's statement, and I turned my
pony back as quickly as possible towards the cara-
van, in order to exchange the light .303 rifle I was
carrying for a .500 expresa In ten minutes, joined
by the caravan bdshi^ I had started on the hardest
stalk I have ever attempted. The difficulty of
crawling and creeping at such altitudes has already
been noticed. When to the physical disability is
added the fact that one is clad in a heavy skin
coat, also that one has to carry with one's own
hand a .500 express rifle, those who have shot in
the higher ranges in Kashmir will not need to be
reminded how helpless the stalker feels.

Before we reached the first ridge, three-quarters
of a mile from the caravan, the yak had dis-
appeared. Guessing at the direction in which he
had fed, I succeeded in gaining the far side of a low
valley without exposure, but only just in time to
see the yak once more disappear slowly over the
next ridge ahead. So far the wind was in my
fiivour, but it was very apparent that human
powers were no match in the way of climbing for
those of a yak bom and bred at such heights.
Should the beast continue to feed on, even as
slowly as he was doing, I felt that no efforts I
could make would suffice to get me a shot, but
for an hour and five minutes I stuck to my yak.

48 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

At the end of that time, after the usual checks
and disappointments, by luck I managed to get
into position within 200 yards, on a rocky knoll
rather above him. Up the last rise, a fairly stiff
one, but not over 150 feet high, I was obliged to
stop every twenty-five yards gasping for breath,
the heavy rifle carried being the final straw. It
was over two minutes before I dared take the
shot, even after crawling into position, and then,
so heavily did my heart thump, that it required
four bullets, all of which went home, but not all
in the right place, before my follower dared run in
to perform the last rites according to Mohammedan
custom.^

Reference has already been made to the cruel
effect of the daUy west wind in Northern Tibet
In its wearing monotony it is ably seconded by
the equally piercing cold at night. As the middle
of October came, and the thermometer fell still
lower, so our dread of the twelve hours after sun-
down increased. By 3 or 4 p.m. the daily march
was usually ended, and by 6 p.m. the day's work
finished. After pitching the tents and seeing to
the animals, the next most important matter was
the collection of such fuel as could be secured.
A pile of boortsa was generally available, and
about sufl&ced to boil the water for tea, to fry
some antelope steak, and to make the half-dozen
chupatties we could afibrd to allow ourselves.

The evening meal disposed of, a pipe followed,
and then the worst portion of the twenty -four

1 Mohammedans will not eat meat unless killed bj a Mohammedan.
HalaUing is the cutting of the animal's throat

A CAMP DBESSINO-ROOM. 49

hours was before us. Hitherto, like the rest of
the world, we had been in the habit of undressing
at bed-time. But in Tibet yet another new ex-
periment had to be fitced. In civilised countries
the lighting of bedroom candles denotes that the
time to undress for bed is approaching. But Tibet
has no pretensions to be considered civilised.
There, on the contrary, it is the signal for don-
ning all the available clothing which could by any
means be squeezed into the sleeping-bags with
which we were provided. During the daytime
the thickest English shooting clothes, with an
extra jersey, formed the foundation of our kit.
Over these each of us wore a coat — warm —
British, — incidentally be it remarked, the best
article of clothing our army ever possessed, — a
puttoo muffler, fur cap and gloves, or, according
to the state of the weather, a huge skin coat.
To add to such a costume might seem difficult :
to sleep in it absurd : yet I must so tax trespass
on the credulity of my readers as to ask them
to believe that we did both.

The tents we occupied were provided by the
well-known Elgin Mills at Cawnpore, and were
some eight feet square, single fly, but double lined.
Anything better either in workmanship or for
packing it would be difficult to find. During
our long tramp they served many uses, but I
doubt if their walls ever saw a funnier sight
than our nightly robing for bed, for the inside
must then have looked more like a theatrical
dressing-room than anything else.

By the time the caravan began to approach the

60 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF HABCO POLO.

southern border of the Kuen Lun, constant ex-
posure, lack of nutrition, and daily marching had
had their usual effect upon the animals.

One evening found us descending a low pass
17,450 feet above sea -level To the west rose
a magnificent range, covered with eternal snow, in
all the grandeur of untrodden peaka In the lower
vallejrs the declining simlight lit up the glacier
edges with exquisite ice-green tints. The range
ran for eleven mUes, bordering the valley we
were about to traverse. At the foot of the slope
just descended we sought for a spot to camp,
but not finding one were forced at last to set
up the tents on the bare plain, flat as a board
but for the snow, without fuel, grazing, or water,
except such as the melted snow afforded. That
night we sacrificed the wheel -box in order to
provide sufficient fuel to boil water for the tea.
The inbred careful habits of our Indian surveyor
had so far caused him to treasure the wheel-box ;
but that night, I think, even his scruples lapsed
when the alternative presented itself to his mind.

The following day's march was one of the worst
we encountered in North- West Tibet.

For the first eight miles the direction took us
across the dead level plain of the night before.
Two small frozen lakes alone varied its monotony.
About noon we arrived at the foot of a gentle
ascent, up which we laboriously picked our way
in ever-deepening snow. The ground was full of
concealed holes and granite boulders. The slope
led up on to a table - land nine miles across, on
which the highest point was 18,100 feet above

U mrr^ -r^-wn-wrr-r >« m.^ a "t^t »

THE DEVILS PLAIN. 61

level The snow was only a foot or two deep,
but so full of pitfalls and unseen rocks that it
played utter havoc with the caravan. The cold
was at times intense.

At its north-east end the plain gradually de-
scends into a deep valley, through which a stream,
probably the head waters of the Kiria river, forces
its way through a sheer cut gorge in the high
range already referred to.

As we quitted the table-land, a northerly storm
swept down on us straight firom the nearest peaks,
adding the final straw to the misery all were en-
during. After a march of nearly ten hours we
camped for the night, intending, if the valley we
were in offered the grazing we hoped for, to give
men and animals several days' rest. Miserable day
as we had spent, our situation that night was an
improvement. Sitting in the comparative comfort
of the little tents, we found revenge, — for the
unholy upland is handed down to posterity on
our Survey map as "The Devil's Plain."

One of the chief charms in life is, we know, its
contrasts. And the more suddenly these follow one
another the more pleasure do we derive from them.
After the experience of the previous weeks, the
valley in which we were camped afforded just such
a contrast. Though not exactly the vale of Kash-
mir, it yet contained both grass and water — the
former, even so late in the season, better than any
our animals had enjoyed since leaving India. The
last few marches had also completely worn out the
yak, half of whom had been left three dajrs in the
rear to follow on more slowly. For these it was

52 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

absolutely necessary to wait, and when, after three
days, they were brought on by the aid of men and
ponies sent back to help them, it was equally im-
perative that they should have time to recover.
Late in the season as it now was, our chief fear
lay in the fact that winter might be upon us any
day. Should such a blow fall, the passage of the
dreaded Kuen Lun mountains would have become
almost impossible.

Diu'ing the seven days spent in the valley, which
is known to the natives of Polu as Baba Hatan, we
were able to make a thorough overhaul of ponies,
packs, and camp gear. Daily marching in such a
climate affords little chance for the stitch in time,
nowhere more necessary. The Survey work also
had its obligations. Nor did any member of the
caravan more richly deserve the temporary re-
spite from continued motion than Lall Singh, our
Indian surveyor. In the daily plotting and meas-
uring connected with a survey such as he was
engaged on, no mean task is accomplished. When,
in addition, the unusual physical and climatic dis-
abilities are remembered, no praise can be too
high for the devotion to duty which prompts
such endurance.

From the sheltered spot occupied by our camp
the view was like a glimpse of unknown worlds;
and inured as we had become to a constant study
of a certain type of nature's most exquisite scenery,
we never grew tired of that entrancing panorama.

Six miles distant at its upper end the valley was
hemmed in by the range of snow -clad mountains
previously mentioned. Such a landmark do these

NEW MOUNTAIN RANGES* 53

form, that though no new discovery was involved,
we felt that as a geographical feature they deserve
to carry a separate name. We took the liberty of
giving them that of the Curzon Range. Opposite
to the latter, on the north-east side of our camp,
stood another most striking group of rugged ridges,
also covered with eternal snows. On either hand
both offered as grand and awe-inspiring a view as
the human eye could wish for. Here, again, we
felt that such a unique mass of peaks deserved
recognition and a separate entity, so took the
liberty of giving it the name of the Kitchener
Group.

Our tents were pitched close to the bank of the
stream, which at this point carved a zigzag course
through a succession of weird gorges composed of
coal-black jagged rock. Through them the water
rushes down a succession of rectangular bends.
Now and again the stream emerges into the open
valley, only once more to be hemmed in and com-
peUed to force a passage through other and equaUy
fitntastic cuttings. Above these latter, and near
the stream, both sides of the narrow valley are
sown with small boulders of the same black rock«
In places these are piled into grotesque heaps,
which afford, as we afterwards discovered, tempting
cover for the hares which inhabit the valley.

After the week's rest we left the Baba Hatan
camp, feeling able to face whatever difficulties the
crossing of the Kuen Lun mountains might have
in store.

Three days later found the caravan climbing
from the great central table-land of Tibet towards

54 IN THS FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

the southern edge of the mass of mountain ridges
which separate it from Chinese Turkestan. The
former area, part of which an endeavour has been
made to describe in the last chapter, comprises one
of the grandest Alpine regions in the world.

The western portion is made up of the more or
less fertile valleys of the Indus and Shiok rivers.
North of these are the Ling-Zi-Thang and the
Aksai-Chin, — vast highlands, like all North-West
Tibet uninhabited and uninhabitable. To these
uplands the Karakoram mountains form the north-
ern buttress, elevating this unique series of plateaux
thousands of feet above the central basin of Chinese
Turkestan.

The eastern portion comprises the uninhabited
treeless wastes of Northern Tibet, which eventually
slope by more gentle gradients to the borders of
China proper, increasing somewhat in fertility as
the traveller passes east.

Geographically, Tibet itself is divided into two
grand portions. One is that whose waters collect
to join the Brahmaputra river, the other that
drained by the Indus river and its tributaries.
The line of separation lies a little to the east of
lakes Manasarawar and Rawan-Rud. Western
Tibet is again divided by Tibetans into three
portions, — Little Tibet or Baltistan, Middle Tibet
or Ladak, and Upper Tibet, which is the portion
outside the territory of the Maharajah of Kashmir.
In the mountain ranges of Western Tibet the aver-
age height of the ridges does not exceed 1000 or
2000 feet above the passes, many of which are
scarcely at all lower than the highest ridge- crests

TIBET. 56

in which they are situated. The principal ranges
average 20,000 feet, the minor ranges finom 17,000
to 18,000 feet. Peaks are found in various ranges
from 21,000 to 25,000 feet.

Tibet is also classified by Tibetans into two
parts — Reng and Chang-Thang. The first signifies
a deep yaUey, low and warm enough for agricultural
occupation, and, generally speaking, a country con-
taining such valleys. Chang-Thang means the
north plain, but, in common, an elevated plain or
wide open valley, too high and too cold for any
but pastoral uses. Chang-Thang is the prevailing
character in Eastern Ladak and in the north-west
of Tibet ; Reng of the country nearer Leh and of
Western Ladak.

Tibet, as a name for their country, is unknown to
the people. Tibet or Tibat, as it is pronounced in
Baltistfiui and Kashmir, is simply called Bod in
Ladak. A Tibetan is a Bod-pa to Ladakis.

In Eastern Tibet the words To-Po or Ten-Pen
are sometimes used to name the country. Tibet
is called by the Chinese Hsi-tsang.

The people of Ladak, like their neighbours in
lower Kashmir, do not enjoy any great reputation
for courage or manliness. Our experience of them,
however, led us to form the opinion that they are
considerably better than their reputation. They are
a hardy race, and think nothing of physical exposure
and privation which few Europeans could stand.
During many days and nights, spent at elevations
varying between 16,000 and 18,000 feet, the men
who formed our caravan lived in the open, their
only shelter from the piercing winds and the snow

56 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF HABCO POLO.

being the nightly zareba they made of the grain
sacks, pack-saddles, &c. Their marching powers
cannot be excelled ; their commissariat is as simple
as that of any human being ; they do not succtmib
to sickness, even under unusual trials ; and, last but
by no means least, the best of them are always
cheerM and willing for more work at a pinch.
With such characteristics the material cannot be
bad. It is probable that in close contact with
British officials the Ladaki might earn a higher
reputation than he now enjoys.

Of the Tibetans I am unable to speak. In the
country traversed by us no human habitation was
ever seen, not even a nomad tent. That these
districts — that is to say, the country round and
south of Aport Tso — are used by the Tibetans
for summer grazing is well known. North of a
line running east and west through Aport Tso,
North-West Tibet is entirely iminhabited through-
out the year.

The Changas or Champas are the shepherds of
the Chang-Thang, while the inhabitants of the
Beng are called Bengpas or Lowlanders.

The climate of this area has one common factor
in the dryness of the atmosphere and the rare-
faction of the air. The latter condition is more
particularly applicable to the higher plateaux and
valleys of Tibet, but the symptoms caused by it
are felt by some people even at Leh, at a height
of only 11,320 feet.

The summer in the Chang-Chenmo valley and
North-West Tibet is a very brief one. Round Leh
it is not much more extended, though the tempera-

THE BBGINNINO OF WINTER. 57

ture, as is to be expected, rises higher. The average
maximum in August is /S'' ; the average minimum
in August 46''. The average daily temperature in
August 75"* ; the barometrical pressure 19.65 inches.
On August 24 the temperature in the sun (black
bulb) was ISO"", and has been as high as 158^

The passes are, as a rule, not open before the
beginning of June. Even then the snow is described
by Captain Rawlin, who crossed them in 1903, as
"deep and soft" on the Masemick-la.

At the time we crossed the same pass, on Sept-
ember 9, there was no snow whatever on it, and
only a few patches on the east sida We had been
warned that snow might fall any day after the
b^inning of September, but I am of opinion that
the winter does not begin in the higher regions
as early as is supposed. No snow at all, which
lay, f<^ until September 28, and even then it
was not enough to interfere with the progress of a
caravan.

On the 16th October we began the crossing of
the Kuen Lun main range over the pass called by
the natives the Kazil-diwan, 17,000 feet above sea-
level, yet all along the route to the south of the
pass there was very little snow. On the north side
it was 2 and 3 feet deep.

The list of temperatures and weather given in
the appendix will enable the reader to form the
best idea of the autiunn. The winter may be said
to last from the end of October or beginning of
November until early in May. If there can be
said to be a wet season it must be placed in the
summer months, for practically there is little spring.

58 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

From the point of view of weather, as has already
been mentioned, the greatest drawback to travel
in North- West Tibet is the west wind, next the
changeable nature of the climate from hour to hour.
The west wind usually rises between 10 and 12 A.M.,
continues blowing half a gale until about 4 p.m., then
either dies away or continues all day in squalls
until late in the evening. More often than not
the nights are still. From sunrise until 8 or 9 a.m.
is the best part of the day. Even until as late as
the middle of October it was much warmer to
breakfast outside one's tent in the sun than inside.

Of the variableness of the climate, hardly a day
passes without affording some example. I have
more than once been sitting basking in the sun
shortly after sunrise outside the tent without a skin
coat on, and within an hour found myself on the
march in blinding snow, wrapped up in all the skins
I possessed. It is essential to have always at hand
an extra skin coat, also to be able to shed one's
garments at any time if necessary.

The resources both of Ladak and North -West
Tibet are extremely limited. It may in fact be said
that unless minerals are found to exist, the latter
place has none. In Ladak, within the area traversed
by us, only sufficient agricultural produce is grown
in the various valleys to meet the wants of the
inhabitants. A small reserve store of grain is main-
tained at Tankse, and some at Durgo, but with
difficulty. What surplus grain accrues to the
people is yearly bartered with the Rudok men for
salt and pashm. The price of the former is prohib-
itive if brought from India, and it has therefore

HINTS OK TRANSPORT. 59

to be obtained from Western Tibet. The Tibetan
prefers grain in exchange to cash, as he cannot eat
the latter.

The commerce is confined to the local barter
already referred to with the Tibetans, and such as
is produced by the passage of the big merchants
trading between India and Tarkand.

The labour is to a large extent undertaken by the
women, the men seeking emplojrment as coolies or
caravan men on the main road from Kashmir.

Nothing is of greater importance to the would-be
traveller than the question of transport ; and a few
additional words on that available throughout the
country we traversed on first quitting India may
not be out of place.

At such altitudes it is hardly necessary to state
that wheeled traffic is out of the question. At the
same time, could a light cart be carried over the
intermediate high passes, there is scope for the use
of them in many parts of North-West Tibet. Some
such vehicle as was used by the Japanese in the
late war would be the ideal kind.

Before reaching Leh from Simla, I had telegraphed
to Captain Patterson, the British Joint Commis-
sioner, asking him to put forward such arrangements
as he could for our caravan ; at the same time sug-
gesting that mules and donkeys might be collected.

Upon arrival at Leh, in addition to other animals,
we found waiting ten mules. These were very fine
animals, and had come from Tarkand. They would
have suited our wants admirably, but, unfortunately,
the price was beyond our means ; so with regret we
had to confine ourselves to the purchase of ponies.

60 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

Six of these mules were at once taken by Captain
Patterson for Indian mountain-battery work, at an
average price of Ba. 175. They stood 13.1 to 13.3
hands high, and were of great power and bone. The
Yarkandi traders put on their own big ponies three
maunds (240 lb.) I have myself seen ponies being
thus loaded, and the mules would easily carry as
much. The only doubt we had as to the superiority
of mules is this, — in Tibet, the daily grain ration
that can be carried for animals is very limited. As
already related, it is useless to suggest that more
transport can be taken to do so, for this is not the
case. More transport means still more animals to
carry food for the first lot, and so on ad infinitwm.

Every traveller who has entered Tibet finds
eventually that a certain number of his animals
must be taken simply to be dropped, as the grain
they carry is eaten by the rest. After much con-
sideration we decided to take yak for this purpose,
and although there are objections to these beasts
as means of transport, I should do the same again,
but next time send them on in advance of the
main caravan.

It has been said that our own ration was 2 lb. per
pony, and besides the grain, they picked up what
they could. This is never much, and at times, for as
long as twenty -four hours, nothing at all. Under
such conditions, the point to be weighed is, would a
big mule be able to keep his strength, and would he
continue to carry as much as a smaller animal who
could retain his full vigour upon a lesser daily
ration ?

For travelling over bad country, for stamina,

IN PRAISE OF THE DONKEY. 61

for working upon starvation rations, for ease in
loading, and for non-liability to stray from camp,
the donkey has no equal. A good big donkey
will continue to carry almost as much as a pony
(150-160 lb.), and he can keep up the ordinary
caravan rate of marching — an average of two to
two and a-half miles an hour. As an all-round
transport animal for Tibet the donkey is very
hard to beat, and I have still a tender spot in
my heart for one very ancient male who accom-
panied us, — as game a specimen of his kind as
ever lived.

Next in value to the donkey, and only placed
below the former in the scale on account of re-
quiring more food, comes the hill-pony of Northern
Kashmir. For mountain work, either under saddle
or pack, nowhere have I met his equal. Those
we constantly rode were little animals under 13.1
hands in height; but they rarely failed us, how-
ever impossible the ground we asked them to
n^otiate. Of the twenty -eight ponies who left
Leh in our caravan, only six lived to reach the
confines of China proper. Of that number five
were altogether worn out, and only one survivor
was able, with careful nursing, to complete the
journey to Peking. As he had been our daily com-
panion for so many months, I was loth to part
with the little fellow, so brought him to England,
where he now spends his days running in a field
at home, wondering, no doubt, where all the
grass he sees comes firom.

Of the yak enough has already been said to
show that they are more a necessity than an

62 IN TH£ FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

acquisition. Out of the thirty we took with us,
seventeen, thanks entirely to our own care, sur-
vived up to Baba Hatan. After that the passage
of the Kuen Lun killed seven more, leaving ten
able to march into Polu, the first village we
reached on the northern side of the mountains.

Before leaving the question of transport, a
word should be said for sheep as beasts of
burden. Their services in the salt trade, carried
on between Tibet and Ladak, are in constant
request. They are used in hundreds, and their
great merit lies in the fact that they can just
exist where no larger animal could find enough
grazing to live on. Had we realised their value
at starting, a drove would certainly have formed
part of the caravan, though an amusing incident
which happened in the Chang- Chenmo serves to
illustrate the risks they run.

Arriving on the banks of a stream, we found it
necessary to cross its somewhat swollen waters
twice within a mile. On the first occasion, though
running strong, the stream was safe for laden
beasts, and the caravan got over with difficulty.
On the second occasion the river was wider, and
we had no means of judging the most likely spot
to ford it. Venturing in to try and find a cross-
ing, the little pony I was riding was nearly swept
off his legs. The yak, in their usual contrary way,
and in spite of our united efforts, chose their Own
spot, and suffered badly in consequence, — some
getting beyond their depth and soaking much of
the grain. Five sheep we then had with us
fared worse, for they were swept off* their legs

A HALO OF MYSTSBT. 63

and carried down like corks, swimming, however,
to the right bank in the end.

No reference has hitherto been made to the
early history of Tibet. To many travellers — more
especially in Asia — the early records of any
country through which they may journey form,
if not the greatest, certainly one of the most last-
ing pleasures connected with their wanderings.

Until the Tounghusband Expedition succeeded
in piercing once for all the veil which had for so
long screened Lhasa from the world, a halo of
mystery himg over Tibet. Nor was this entirely
due to the ignorance of the country. Authentic
records already existed, and not a few intrepid
travellers — such as Bower and Littledale, Welby
and Malcolm, Detreuil de Rhins and Sven Hedin,
not to mention Sarat Chandra Dass — had crossed
the country firom various sides. The mystery hung
rather on the fact that Lhasa itself was able to
remain a forbidden city. In spite of this mystery,
the history of Tibet varies in no way from that
of all nations in being associated with the history
of others whose borders are contiguous.

As early as the year 122 B.c. mention is made
in Chinese annals of intercourse with India, then
known as Shintu or Thianchu. A century later,
in 65 AD., a certain Chinese emperor, in conse-
quence of a dream, sent ambassadors to Thianchu
to obtain instructions in the doctrines of Buddha.

Throughout the greater portion of the third
and fourth centuries political intercourse between
India and China seems to have been interrupted,
although a sea -trade existed at the end of the

64 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

latter century. Its commencement probably dates
from 317-320 A.D., and was at first between
Ceylon and China.

During the fifth century various Indian king-
doms repeatedly sent tribute to the Chinese
emperors; and in 605 A.D. another Chinese em-
peror of the Sui dynasty, having formed some
ambitious projects, sent to try and induce the
kingdoms of Tibet and India to render him
homage ; but those of India declined to do so,
which much enraged the emperor.

About 646 A.D. a Chinese army, assisted by the
kings of Tibet and Nepaul, invaded the north-
eastern border of India with success, taking many
cities, and carrying away one of the Indian kings
a prisoner to China.

In 667 A.D., according to the Chinese annals,
"the kings of the five Indes" — viz., of Eastern
India, Western India, Southern India, Northern
India, and Central India — all sent to offer homage
to the great Emperor of China.

In 713 A.D. an embassy came to the Emperor
Hi-Wang-Tsun from Chandrapida, the then king
of Kashmir, acknowledging allegiance. A successor
and brother also offered homage, and requested the
emperor to send troops into Kashmir, being induced
to do so by the rising power of Tibet.

From 713-731 a.d. repeated missions are reported
from the different kingdoms of India, one of which
begged aid against the Tibetans, asking at the same
time that an honorific title might be bestowed upon
the Indian monarch's army. The Chinese potentate,
after the manner of his countrymen, found this the

BENEDICT GOES. 65

easiest and most convenient mode of conveying
his patronage, so decreed the title of ''the .Ajrmy
which cherishes virtue." About this period there
is frequent mention in Chinese annals of relations
with two kingdoms called Great and Little Poliu,
which lay between Kashgar and Kashmir. There
is little doubt that the kingdoms in question were
Ladak and Baltistan, which were known to a
much later date as Great and Little Tibet.

The Tibetans at this time, circa 800 A.D., were
becoming powerful and troublesome neighbours.
After the date mentioned, for a long time no
political intercourse is heard of, though there are
frequent notices of the visits of Indian Buddhist
devotees to the court of China, or of Chinese
Buddhists visiting India for religious objects.
These pilgrimages, probably more infrequent as the
indigenous Buddhism of India gradually perished,
had not altogether ceased even in the middle of
the fourteenth century.

In the reign of the great Emperor Akbar, the
well-known mission of Benedict Goes was de-
spatched from India to China by the advice of
Father Jerome Xavier, then at the court of the
Emperor Akbar at Delhi, as head of the Mogul
Mission. Even at that date merchants were in
the habit of trading between India and China,
using as the shortest route that frt)m Lahore to
Kashmir, thence across the E^arakoram pass to
Yarkand and Kashgar, and so by the Thian-shan
Nanlu to Chia-yu-kuan and China proper. Groes,
however, chose the longer and more frequented
route by Lahore, Peshawar, Kabul, Badakshan,

66 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

and the Oxus Valley, thence across the Pamirs to
Tarkand.

In later years various conquerors have occupied
Kashmir from the fall of the Mogul Empure until
the practical absorption of that country into the
British Raj in 1846. In 1841 Raja Gulab Singh,
after conquering Ladak and Baltistan by the help
of Zorawar Singh's troops, turned his attention
to Tibet. After making an abortive attempt to
occupy the country, he was driven back into Ladak,
and 2k)rawar Singh lost his life. Upon the summit
of the Chang-la the remains of a wall are still to
be seen. The wall was built by the Tibetans to
keep out Zorawar Singh's army, — a childish pro-
ceeding repeated by them, as we know, in their
endeavour to keep Sir Francis Tounghusband out
of Lhasa.

CHAPTER IV.

TRI*PAa8AOI OF TBI KUIN LUN— A PIRIL0U8 DB8CINT— A lOBERABLB
CAXPIHO-OaOUND — GOLD *' POCKKTS"— A PLKASAn BUBPRIBI —
THS LUXURY OF lOOB — THE WSLOOME 8I0HT OF A TREE ^ A
HOePITABLE BBO— SNTERmO POLU IN RAOB.

It is now time to return to the caravan which
we lefl on the borders of the promised land, — that
is to say, a land of greater promise than the for-
saken wastes we were about to quit.

With such a character as we have given to this
latter country, it might be supposed that Nature
would have taken little pains to hedge it off firom
the neighbouring world. But this is &r from the
case. On the northern side she has planted, in the
shape of the dreaded Kuen Lun, such a barrier that
even the daring Russian explorers, Kozloff and
Roboroffsky, were fain to admit themselves baffled
in their attempts to find a feasible route other
than the one we made use of.

On October 16 we found ourselves commencing
the passage of the Kuen Lun. This occupied us
five days, and in that time we covered rather over
thirty miles in transit.

Riding ahead of the caravan that morning,
Captain Layard, Lall Singh, and myself had by

68 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

mistake climbed a pass 17,000 feet above sea-level.
Our guide being most Uncertain about any possible
passes, we were obliged to fend for ourselves. As
we dragged our ponies up the pass, it seemed im-
possible for the caravan to ascend, and this proved
to be so. They were afterwards unable to negoti-
ate it. finding their way over an easier neck fiirther
to the west. Upon the northern side of the one
we crossed fresh snow lay eighteen inches to two
feet deep, and a wind raged which was even for
Tibet more cruel than usual.

After rejoining the caravan, the view which met
our eyes as we gazed through the now falling snow
northward into and over the Kuen Lun was one
neither my companions nor myself are ever likely
to forget. At our feet, and on three sides, stretch-
ing apparently without end, lay the wildest and
most forbidding jumble of mountain-ranges, peaks,
and gorges imaginable. Of aU shapes, crossing
and recrossing in every direction, needle- pointed
or flat, rugged and broken, they had only one
common feature, and that lay in their apparently
inaccessible nature. To add to this grand but
iminviting prospect, snow to the depth of two or
three feet covered the northern slopes of all the
ranges. In the immediate foreground we stood
upon what appeared to be the edge of a sheer
hhudy down which our guide gave us vaguely to
understand the route lay.

Owing to the ignorance and stupidity of this
man, it was then far too late in the day to attempt
such a descent. Had we received any idea of what
was before us, it would have been easy to have

DANGEROUS WORK. 69

camped upon the southern slope of the pass. As
it was, we stood between the devil and the deep
sea. Necessity and inclination said advance ; prud-
ence whispered be careful how you undertake such
a step. To recross the pass was out of the ques-
tion, so the plunge had to be made. Bidding the
caravan remain, Layard and I started the down-
ward climb in hope of finding some possible track.
Leading our ponies, we took the slope at the only
feasible angle, stumbling all the time into con-
cealed holes, and tripping over boulders covered
with frozen snow. At first we followed our guide,
but after he had led us down several places, each
one more impossible than the other, and firom
which we were obliged to extricate ourselves and
our ponies, he was finally brought up short. A
hopeless scramble had landed us on the edge of
a waterfall in a small torrent-bed, from which all
hope of farther downward progress was barred.
Before we had time to consider the next move,
our guide, having no pony to lead, and seeing a
chance for himself, quietly left us and endeavoured
to climb down. From our point of view this did
not seem to be altogether playing the game, so in
angry tones we hailed him to hold on. Whether
it was his anxiety to reach the bottom, or his fears
at the tone of our voices, I cannot say. We saw
him suddenly lose his hold, then his balance, and
finally, to our great amusement, roll headlong down
a small cliff into six feet of snow below.

Having disposed of our friend, our own predica*
ment became pressing. To get the ponies and
ourselves up again was a dangerous piece of work,

70 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

but luckUy a Ladak pony can climb with any goat ;
so after a ten minutes' struggle we once more got
on comparatively safe ground.

All this time the caravan still remained at the
summit of the descent. That they would ever get
down that night, if at all, without losing half the
loads and ponies, seemed hardly possible. We had,
however, made a track of a kind, and it was by
following this, with the loss of only one yak, that
the caravan eventually reached the bottom. Great
was our relief, after waiting an hour and a half, to
see the first lot of ponies appear. In a dry water-
course thirty yards across we found sufficient room
to pitch the tents badly; and there, huddled to-
gether without grass or water save the snow, we
passed our first night in the gorges of the Kuen
Lun.

While descending from the pass on the previous
afternoon we had dropped over 1000 feet on the
near side. The first two hours the following morn-
ing we descended another 2000 feet, so rapid is
the fall firom the north to the south side of this
gigantic barrier.

Our route at starting led down the gully in
which we had camped, and at a point where the
former ran into a larger stream - bed we came
upon three men, the first human beings met with
since leaving Kashmir. Which of the two parties
was the more astonished it is hard to say, nor could
we obtain anything but a few words from them,
owing to the fact that they came from Polu and
spoke a Turki dialect only. Our followers man-
aged to ascertain that the men were gold-diggers

A MISERABLE CAMP. 71

returning after their summer campaign in the Kuen
Lun. Leaving the stream -bed, our guide struck
into a side gorge, down which we fought our way
all day over going of the most hopeless kind. On
either hand rock walls rise hundreds of feet above
the stream -bed, the latter being strewn with
boulders of all sizes. Never straight for more
than a few yards, the bed was only wide enough
to hold the half-firozen waters of a little torrent,
which descended in pools and small falls, down
which the wretched animals slid and fell.

By three o'clock in the afternoon we had been
marching for eight hours. Layard and myself had
gone on in the apparently hopeless quest of a spot
where even one tent might be erected. A more
than usually impossible torrent-bed had driven us
to climb out on to a small spur overhanging the
stream, and there we decided to pass the night.
After waiting for three hours in the now fast-fall-
ing darkness, we could just make out the leading
ponies of the caravan as they appeared a few
hundred yards away round the nearest bend in
the gorge. They halted, and the headman came
on to say that the animals were played out, and that
they could come no farther. Mindful of the shelter
even a small tent affords, we endeavoured to induce
him to alter his opinion, but were soon convinced of
the impossibility of the caravan moving even that
short distance. Night had fallen, and as the
mountain could not come to Mohammed, Mo-
hammed, as we know, had to accommodate the
mountain. To climb down into the stream -bed,
dragging our ponies after us, was as much as we

72 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

could manage. Slidinir and fallini? down the
slippery rocks to the f^zen edge of the stream,
we reached the spot where the caravan had halted
to find men and animals huddled up miserably
among the mass of boulders which here almost
obstructed the stream. A few of the yak we knew
to have gone ahead earlier in the afternoon, but
how or where they had managed to leave the
torrent -bed could not in the dark be discovered.

There was nothing for it but to make the best of
a bad job, and to help men and animals to be as
little uncomfortable as circumstances would allow
where they were. Everybody set to work to
unload the beasts, and that done all was done
that could be.

The men settled themselves under the shelter of
the biggest boulders. Each animal either lay down
or remained forlornly standini? where he had halted,
and we ourselves, with Lall Singh, crept into some
disused gold "pockets," dug out under the rocky
sides of the gorge.

A more weird scene than the latter presented as
the moon rose sufficiently high to throw its pale
light into the depths of that wild cutting, it has
never been my fortune to see. A few facts may
perhaps serve to illustrate the uphill task our
caravan had that day been obliged to face. The
torrent-bed down which they had struggled varied
from three or four feet to half as many yards in
width. Though still running water in the middle,
either side was usually frozen some feet out from
the boulders which lined it. The depth never ex-
ceeded 18 to 20 inches, except in occasional pools.

A MOUNTAIN TRACK* 73

nor waa there a single yard of level bottom through-
out its entire length. Thirty-seven times that day
had the stream to be forded, generally knee-deep in
icy water ; and four more yak and one of our biggest
ponies was the price we had to pay.

At dawn the following morning we were all astir,
every one being anxious to escape from such an
inhospitable spot. To become the owner of a gold
" pocket " many a man has before now sold himself
to the devil. On waking that morning I would
willingly have sold his sable majesty all the gold
"pockets'' to be found in the Kuen Lun for one
hour of my own camp-bed.

We began the second day by being forced to
carry every item of baggage out of the stream-bed
up on to the tiny track we had missed the previous
night. Each of the twenty-four ponies in turn had
also to be pulled and pushed from the bed of the
torrent up on to it. At no time easy, to reload
animals on a path whose width prevents any
approach to them except "fore and aft/' savours
more of the doings of the mad hatter in * Alice in
Wonderland' than of serious travellers. When,
however, neglect to observe this precaution means
a fall over a 60-feet cliflf into a torrent-bed, little
difficulty is experienced in taking the matter
seriously. After some hours, owing to the above
causes, as well as to the impracticable nature of the
gorge, the caravan had only covered a few hundred
yards. By eleven o'clock in the morning men
and animids were thoroughly exhausted. We had
covered but one mile and a quarter in actual
distance, but what with carrying packs, continually

74 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

lifting faUen ponies and reloading them, lowering
the animals down bad bits and hauling them up
worse, the men had had enough of it.

To take no thought for the morrow is a maxim
often advisable to follow, particularly where a more
than usually hard task must be carried through.
In our case, however, the morrow was always the
bogey. Whatever the day brought forth we usually
feared worse for the next, though on this occa-
sion we were wrong. About noon, just before we
decided to camp, another party of six men came
down the gorge. These also were gold-diggers, on
their return to Polu after a summer spent digging
for the precious metal in the mountains. The
leader of the little band turned out to be the head-
man of that district, and although our two parties
merely passed ^' the time of day," we had afterwards
reason to bless the luck which sent the meeting.

Our camping-ground the third night was upon
a narrow spur overhanging the torrent-bed. Upon
it the animals found a few mouthfuls of grazing,
and we some sand-holes, evidently used as resting-
places by the gold - seekers. In these we slept.
Just before dark we espied a herd of shapoo far
up the cliff-side, and Layard essayed a stalk. The
light was failing fast, and every minute counted
against him, so it was necessary to take a long
and difficult shot. Though unsuccessful this had
the effect of starting the herd, and a fine sight
it was to watch them dashing down the precipitous
hillside into a side ravine to what appeared certain
death.

On the fourth day we had hoped to be emerging

A ROCK-LADDER. 75

from the now hateful gorge, but were doomed to be
disappointed. The march commenced by three of
the ponies getting together on the goat-track we
were endeavouring to follow, with the result that
over they went, boxes and all. Having climbed
down to pick up what we supposed would be the
remains, we were agreeably surprised to find no
serious damage. Having righted the loads, we
dragged the beasts back on to the track, then the
weary daily task recommenced. The torrent-bed
was now impassable. In order to advance, it was
necessary to climb and descend one spur after
another from and to the stream -bed. As these
spurs ran up to 300 and 400 feet above the torrent,
and as they had almost sheer sides up and down
which the 18-inch wide path led at a gradient
of about one in four, their frequent recurrence
proved killing to laden beasta Such as the track
is, it has been made by the invasion of the gold-
diggers. These men usually carry their own packs,
though donkeys are sometimes used. So severe is
the work of track-making that not one inch more
width is added than will suffice to allow of the
passage of a donkey, and this was disastrous to us.
In more than one place a jutting rock was sufficient
to forbid the passage of a laden pony, so off had
to come every single yakdan in the caravan in
order that they might be carried round and
reloaded on the far side of the rock. Twice,
where the track led over more than usually per-
pendicular spurs, it became in each case a mere
rock-ladder. Here, again, every pony had in turn
to be pulled up and lowered down by hand. All

76 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MABCO POLO.

day long the track continued thus, at one moment
down to the torrent-level, at the end of the next
hour winding dizzily up 300 or 400 feet, fix)m
whence a sheer slope carried the eye once more
to the bottom. At noon, while halting for a short
breathing -space, we enjoyed a great surprise.
Clambering over the boulders ahead came a party
of men the leader of whom at once made known his
errand. Having saluted us, he intimated that he
had come with his party from Polu, whence our
friend the Beg, who had passed the day before,
had despatched this little band of fifteen men with
twelve donkeys to help us out. Not content with
this, the Beg had also sent with the party an
abundant and most welcome supply of fresh cakes,
fruit, milk, and eggs, which, as the bearer of the
good news informed us, was then waiting to be
eaten not half a mile ahead. To hear of such
luxuries would be enough to revive the spirits of
the most hopeless castaways, and our party were
by no means in such straits. Somewhat worn out
as the caravan was, there was plenty of fight still
left in the best of the animals, yet there is no
shame in confessing that the complexion of the
day changed from that moment. When, after
half an hour's further struggle, we emerged into
an opening in the gorge and found the reality
spread upon the rocks, all our troubles vanished.
To appreciate fully the luxury of eggs it is,
perhaps, hardly necessary to visit Tibet, though
having done so may somewhat enhance the
pleasure felt in once more meeting those simple
adornments of the home breakfast - table. Our

A BELIEF PARTY. 77

daily food for two months had consisted mainly
of flour and meat, eaten twice in the twenty-four
hours — not an enticing cuisine, nor one particularly
fisittening. May we therefore hope to be forgiven
for the human weakness which made possible the
sudden change from grave to gay, all on account
of a few bodily comforts?

Although it required yet a fifth day's struggle
before we were able to win our way through the
Kuen Lun moimtains, our difficulties were decidedly
lessened by the aid of the relief party. The leader,
with whom we afterwards became well acquainted
at Polu, for it was in his house that the kindness
of the Beg lodged us, was a most amiable old
gentleman, the proud possessor of the right to
wear the green turban, as also to be addressed
as Hadji. Under his guidance we gradually
approached the northern end of the interminable
gorge, up to the last over the same infamous
going. As we emerged, the character of the sur-
rounding mountains began to change. The pure
rock of the gorge-sides gave place to slaty deposit,
while the lower spurs became more soft, the soil
resembling loess of a grey dust colour, which the
wind carried in clouds, forming a constant haze.
We had dropped during the previous thirty miles
from 17,700 feet to 9500 feet, and after descending
below 10,000 feet the first signs of vegetation began
to appear. Though exceedingly scanty, the few
dried up rushes and briars to be seen were a
relief to the eye, and it is hard even now to repress
a smile upon recalling our excitement at meeting
a tree. The track at the moment followed the

78 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP HABCO POLO.

edge of a narrow strip of cultivation which, although
a^lready harvested, savoured of vegetation. Below
ran the same torrent we had followed for days, but,
like its mountain cousins, so tamed here as to have
lost all semblance of its former wild self. At the
end of the cultivation the ground rose, and there
at some distance from the ridge stood a solitary
tree : great was the enthusiasm when it came
into view, for it was the first we had seen since
quitting India.

Clear of the main gorge, the character of the
country undergoes a startling and rapid transforma-
tion. Instead of the rock cuttings and perpendicular
chS^ the track descends into rolling dust-coloured
hills and open downs, at a height of 8400 feet. The
latter are covered with a close-growmg vetch, which
in the spring probably affords excellent grazing.
Not a vestige of trees, grass, or other vegetation is
to be seen except the vetch. At some distance
away from the mountains and entrance to the gorge,
the sudden geological change is still more apparent.
The last jagged range to the south, snow -clad
throughout most of its length, gives way as though
in one step to dust-coloured hills 2000 feet lower in
height.

Pushing on to reach Polu that afternoon, we
crossed the downs, to drop by steep sandy tracks
hedged by coarse reed-grass into the valley in which
the village itself stands. A mile out we were met
by our friend the Beg, accompanied by a mounted
cavalcade, who, as is the custom in such out-of-
the-way spots, was anxious to do honour to the
approaching guest.

AN IMPOSING CAVALCADE. 79

It was naturally a great pleasure to find ourselves
once more among fellow-men. At the same time,
we rather wished that our reception had taken place
in the dusk.

The Beg and his company, when they had passed
us in the gorge, were birds of the same feather.
Neither party had enjoyed the advantages civilisa-
tion is supposed to confer for many weeks ; certainly
neither Captain Layard nor myself had had our
dothes off since crossing the Chcmg-la.

Now all was different, Riding fat good-looking
ponies, our host's cavalcade appeared quite imposing,
especially as he and his men were also well dressed
in clean clothes and embroidered coats. We, on the
other hand, must have presented a deplorable ap-
pearance. Exposure to wind and weather and, be
it whispered, lack of soap and water, had tended
to make us nearly as dark of skin as a clean Turki ;
besides which the cutting wind of Tibet had cracked
and chapped both hands and faces somewhat badly.
Manners, we know, maketh man, but what of clothes I
The fur coats and boots which "Mr Cook" had
provided us with in Srinagar had, at their first
appearance, cast upon their possessors the air of
respectability a well - made coat always imparts :
now, alas I the reverse was the case. Like a
ready-made suit which in a shop window looks
the perfection of shape and fit, what more de-
pressing garment can be conceived than the same
suit after six months' wear? To much the same
state had our skin coats descended. Alternately
soaked by the snow and dried up by the sun,
slept in, buttonless and torn, they hung together.

80 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

and that was all that could be said in their

fia-vour.

From the above description it may easily be
imagined that our personal appearance cannot have
impressed the good people of Polu ; but luckily in
the East a traveller is mainly judged by the size
of his following, and from that point of view our
caravan was sufficiently extensive still to make up
for its somewhat forlorn appearance.

CHAPTER V.

▲9 IDEAL PLACB FOB A BI8T-CUBX— A HOUBB IN POLU— FLISH-POTS
AND LUZUBT— THB TUBUS OF POLU — HAWK8 AND HAWKING — A
DIPLOMATIC ^^DBAL" IN D0NKBT8 — THl KIBIA BIVIB — TWO 8KLFIBH
AKSAKALS—TRM 0A8IB OF KOOKHIA— KIBIA— A FBISNDLT AHBAN
— CHINB8B TUBK18TAN — THB BABTEBN TUBKI8H DIALBCT — THB
ANDUANI8 A8 TBADBBB.

To any highly-strung inhabitant of the West, worn
out with the effort to keep pace with present-day
social requirementSi Polu is strongly recommended
as a delightful spot in which to make a rest-cure.
Hidden away at the foot of the Kuen Lun mountains,
whose snowy peaks present a magnificent study
of the grandest winter scenery, the village is
equally unapproachable on its northern side. Be-
tween Polu and Kiria a belt of sandy desert must
be crossed which occupies three marches. Only
after this is effected can the jaded and neurotic
traveller hope to enjoy perfect peace, where motor
omnibuses are still unknown, and where street
traffic is yet in its infancy.

It was with such feeling as an invalid might
be expected to entertain that we woke under a
roof on the morning after our arrival at Polu.
Peaceful indeed were the half dreamy thoughts
which floated through one's mind, once the first

82 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

shock of not having to rise and move on had been
got .over. Thanks to the kindness of our host, we
were lodged in the home of our friend the Hadji,
he who had so unexpectedly met and delivered
us from the unpleasant gorges of the previous
week. The home stood in a little side lane abut-
ting on the main street ; the latter is itself only
a few feet wide, tree - bordered, with a runnel of
clear water flowing down one side.

The village of Polu resembles the type found
throughout Chinese Turkestan and the East
generally. It is a collection of flat-roofed, mud-
brick houses, huddled together to form a regular
warren. Bound the houses are enclosed yards,
outer yards, and cattle pens. Beyond these again,
on the outskirts, more enclosures, surrounded by
the same mud walls, in which are grown the
vegetables to supply the home consumption.

The peculiarity at once noticed in any village
in Chinese Turkestan is the unusual construction
of the roofs. In the well-to-do houses these are
supported upon heavy wooden beams, ornamented
with some effort at carving, having a square in
the centre of the roof raised some three feet above
the level of the remaining roof-space. The sides
of the raised portion are made of open woodwork,
without parchment or paper such as is used by
the Chinese for windows, so that there is nothing
to prevent their being sealed up with felt or straw
when the cold season approaches.

By this simple arrangement, increased facilities
for admitting both light and fresh air are more
or less forced upon the occupants, — a tribute this

A HOUSE AT POLU. 83

to the knowledge of the habits of his confrh^es^
which stamps the inventor as a man of no mean
resource. With regard to sanitation the Turki is
perhaps less of an Asiatic than usual; and cer-
tainly, so far as concerns the cleanliness of his
water-supply, he is far ahead of his Chinese
masters.

The home of our host was typical of those of
the better class. Furnished as it was for us with
a profusion of bright - coloured Khotan rugs and
felts, it afforded, comparatively speaking, a high
degree of comfort. From the street the visitor
enters a central courtyard through a door in the
mud walL More than half the courtyard is usually
roofed over, but the front side is open to the air.
All round the court is a wide loimge, made of
mud bricks smoothly plastered over, resembling a
Chinese hang. Here, when the traveller arrives,
baggage is unpacked and stacked, visits are re-
ceived, and tea is taken. In fact, during the
summer season, the dais becomes the regular living-
place of the family. Off this central court the
rooms open each with its own door, fireplace, and
humble set of furniture. Spotless cleanliness was
our usual experience, and the grey smooth floor
and walls, in which small niches act as cupboards,
formed a most pleasing colour contrast when the
bright rugs were exposed.

At the season of the year we reached Polu,
the autumn, the inner rooms were just beginning
to be occupied. After the experience of the
previous weeks it is unnecessary to say how we
revelled in the luxury of wood fires, warmth.

84 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

fresh eggs, and milk, not to mention honey.
Under such conditions " the flesh-pots of Egypt "
became a reality never before so perfectly under-
stood, and had some Turki Moses suggested to us
a return over the bleak plateaux we had success-
fully crossed, I am afraid that our murmurings
would have been both deep and loud.

The appearance of the people of Polu gives the
idea that they are well off, nor do their surround-
ings in any way detract from the impression. Well
dressed, and possessing large herds of sheep, cattle,
and ponies, with ample water, that most priceless
boon throughout the East, a cultivated area some
miles in length, the standard of living is a high
one. Eminently so if we compare it with that of
the Indian ryot.

In addition to the comforts mentioned above, the
people have also the gold industry to fall back on,
which we in the West would in many cases con-
sider of sufficient interest to engage all our spare
time.

In temperament the Turkis of Polu are decidedly
sociable, being also healthy-looking and handsome ;
their women-folk are allowed a considerable freedom
of intercourse. Respectable women of the higher
class are often to be met journeying alone to
market, and always riding astride, as all good
Turkis do. Their costume is a picturesque one.
The round or conical fur cap and long boots are
the usual equipment of both men, women, and
children, the loose trousers or semi-skirt being the
only difference in the sexes. It was customary to
see the women pull the white veil they wear over

HAWKING. 85

their faces upon passing us, but of their own
menkind very little notice is taken.

No description of Polu would be complete
which omitted to make mention of the hawks
and the hawking, which appears to form the chief
amusement of all classes. It is unusual to enter
the courtyard of any but the poorest houses and
not find one or more hawks fiststened to a perch.
Nowhere in the East have I seen such beautiful
specimens nor birds of such a size.

From the little kestrel to eagles, which are so
huge as to appear impossible for a man to carry,
and which, if unhooded, one was afiuid to approach,
all sizes are represented. When it is added that
the quarry hunted ranges from chickor to shapoo
and bara-sing, some idea may be gained of the
wide range of game pursued by these enthusiastic
sportsmen.

After two days' rest, with complete forgetfulness
of aught but the present, it was necessary to think
of a fresh start. The first thing to be done was to
dismiss the yak men, who had served us so badly
throughout, and whose three months' contract had
expired. This was soon accomplished, all the more
quickly that, in spite of protestations and en-
treaties, our hearts were hardened to all cries for
extra haksheish. The next necessity was to dis-
pose of the most feeble of our remaining ponies,
instead of which we decided to take on a drove
of donkeys. Against the number of donkeys we
required we suggested exchanging so many ponies,
the value of both, strong and well, being in the
ratio of three or four donkeys to one pony. Here,

86 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

as usual, difficulties at once arose. Our ponies, we
were told, were worthless, worn out, and of no use
to any one. In vain we pointed out that after three
months' rest a pony who had gone through what
our ponies had would never die. Our hosts were
well aware that we must move on, also that some
of our animals were incapable of doing so, and the
chances of a deal did not look rosy. Once more
experience came to our aid and enabled us finally
to bring our friends to see reason.

Before commencing the journey we had decided
to leave no animal behind to die by inchea The
friendly bullet was invariably to be their destiny.
Although it may sound somewhat of an Irishism,
adherence to this rule had more than once tem-
porarily saved the lives of both yak and ponies.
Knowing that we should carry out our intention,
and disliking, as most Mohammedans do, to see an
animal killed in cold blood, our drivers often made
renewed efforts to bring along those which they
would not otherwise have troubled about, no matter
under what circumstances one was left behind.
Now again we made it known that under no con-
ditions whatever would any animal of ours remain
at Polu alive unless confided to the care of some
individual ; and further, that for this to happen it
was necessary that we should receive a quid pro
quo in the shape of donkey flesh at a fair rate of
exchange. Few things are more difficult in mental
calisthenics than to convince an Asiatic mind that
what is said is intended to be understood literally.
In this connection the previous experience of our
caravan men of a rigid adherence to the spoken

APPROACHING THE TAKLA MAKAN. 87

word by U8» on all occasions, was a very strong
card. To see five ponies who were merely tempor-
arily disabled led forth to be shot was not at all
to the liking of our friends at Polu. The knowing
ones were well aware that they conld become
owners of these ponies on decidedly advantageoip
term& So it only required a few hours' more hag-
gling before the charm worked and we won our
point. By the afternoon of the third day we had
got the donkeys ; and all the necessary exchanges
having been effected, we were once more prepared
to take, the road.

Quitting Polu, amid the respectful good-byes of
our kindly hosts, we followed the course of the Kiria
river under the guidance of two aksakcUs (literally
greybeards), sent by the Chinese Amban at Kiria
to escort the caravan. The track very soon struck
into rolling sand-hills, where we experienced the
first intimation of the proximity of the Takla
Makan desert. This was conveyed in an ever-
lasting haze, caused by the action of /the wind
carrying the minute particles of sand. Apart from
the inability to see farther than two or three mUes,
the haze is not sufficiently thick to be objection-
able. The limitation of view was, however, no small
handicap to our survey work. It was felt the more
that on certain days distant ranges and peaks could
be seen and their bearings taken, but on others,
when it was most necessary for the sake of cross-
bearings that the same Icmdmarks should be again
sighted, the haze would remain impenetrable.

The chfimnel of the Kiria river, alongside which
our direction lay, is here of curious construction.

88 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

In the soft sand, below which is a substratum of
gravel, the stream has carved a canal-like course
some two hundred feet in depth. The sides are
perpendicular, cuid though within a few yards of
the river-bank throughout the first day's march, not
a drop of water could we obtain. After pushing
on for nineteen miles, every minute in hopes that
the banks of the stream would let us down to the
water, we were forced to halt. Darkness found us
still without it, both grass and grazing being also
conspicuous by their absence. For boiling water
a few dried up bushes alone afforded the necessary
fueL By the aid of ropes and a bucket we were
able to secure enough water for the men and our-
selves, but the animals were forced to go without.
So suddenly had we been overtaken that there was
not time to wait for the tents or to pitch them.
We therefore bivouacked in the soft sand where we
had halted, arranging our valises in a hollow under
the shelter of the scrub. The following morning at
dawn we watered the animals with a few mouthfuls
apiece, drawn from the river. This accomplished,
the caravan was soon under weigh, only to find to
our annoyance that the precipitous banks almost
immediately did slope away, giving easy access to
the river-bed in under a mile from the previous
night's camp. Such are the little accidents which
prevent monotony in the daily march, and to them
we were always ready to bow. What did cause a
feeling of resentment was the fact that our two
aksakals had quietly left us in the lurch the pre-
vious evening, and, being themselves well mounted,
had pushed on for the much-desired water.

A SUDDEN TRANSFORMATION. 89

After the climatic experiences we had encoun-
tered in TIbeti the first two months of our stay
in Chinese Turkestan were a delightful change.

From being obliged to wear skin coats, so thick
as almost to stand alone, to appearing in one's
shirt - sleeves, is a somewhat sudden transforma-
tion. But seldom was one so welcome.

A drop of 13,000 feet has its attendant advan-
tages, and never did an oasis so entirely fulfil its
mAier as the first we entered before reaching Kiria.
As the name implies, the physical resources of such
spots invite contrast with their surroundings, but
fully to appreciate the mere human delight in that
contrast, it is necessary to come direct, as it were,
downstairs firom the roof into a splendid winter
garden.

In more senses than one do the Tibetan plateaux
represent a roof, and as a winter garden we had
no fault to find with our oases. Emerging from
the desert sands across a line almost as marked
as a park fence, we suddenly found ourselves sur-
rounded by walled farmsteads, buried in finiit and
other tall trees, the foliage of the latter just turn-
ing into a bright golden yellow. The dusty track
down which we rode had on either side a double
row of weeping willows, at the back of which
stretched stacks of Indian com lately harvested.
Buried in small vineyards, interlaced with water-
cuts, we parsed one snug farm after another.
From the doors old crones stare, and favour us with
voluble, and perhaps luckily unintelligible, com-
ments, chattering at the same time to cheery little
mites of children ; while the younger women shyly

90 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

hid themselves behind the boundary walls wher-
ever an opening gave a chance of a glimpse at
the passing strangers. For nearly an hour we
rode thus, until a more than usually tempting
garden invited us to halt, and there we set
about pitching the tents.

Eookhia, the not unpleasing name of our Garden
of Eden, turned out to be closer to Eiria than we
had imagined. The following day a ride of a few
miles through tree-bordered lanes, past well-to-do
homesteads, brought us into its immediate vicinity.
Entering the town itself, the traveller suddenly
finds himself in a long street converted into a
covered bazar, a mild imitation of those found in
Bokhara, Samarcand, and other big Asiatic towns.
Though the headmen had been sent out to meet
us with the usual presents of fruit, dried raisins,
and other condiments, the Amban himself did not
appear. We were escorted to the house prepared
for us, which stood on the outskirts of the town,
with a large courtyard in front and a pretty little
garden behind. From one corner of the latter we
enjoyed a lovely view southwards across the Eiria
river. Below the house, between the garden and
the river, stretched a wide belt of trees, through
whose autumn foliage ran every tint of red, orange,
and yellow. Beyond this mass of colour the rib-
bon-like strip of river wound below a high bank
of brown mud, while in the far distance the yellow
sands formed an apparently limitless background.

Eiria has been the subject of considerable dis-
cussion among the few European travellers who
have visited the place, owing mainly to the dif-

KIBIA. 9 1

ficulty of reconciling the present site with the
itinerary of Marco Polo after that famous travel-
ler left Ehotan. Like other historically interest-
ing points concerning this region, it ha^, in late
years, been solved by the industry of Dr Stein,
the eminent archaeologist, who is even now prose-
cuting further researches in this fascinating dis-
trict The present Eiria, as Dr Stein has already
demonstrated, is not the site of Pimo (the Pein
of Marco Polo) which it has been thought by other
travellers to be.

The ruins of the latter city were discovered and
traced by Dr Stein some distance to the north of
the Ehotan -Nia route, where the site is locally
known as Uzun-Tati. The present town of Eiria
is divided into two portions — the so-called old city
containing about one thousand mud-brick houses,
and the new city nearly double the number. The
covered bazar forms the chief street, which is
entered by a small wooden gateway. There are
six or seven serai or inns, and ninety to a
hundred small shops. The population is chiefly
Mohammedan, but there are also eighty to one
hundred Chinese residents. Cloths, knives, and
some common Chinese leather-work are the chief
goods sold; most of the minor native luxuries
come from Ehotan and the West.

While at Kiria our reception by the Amban was
most cordial. He called upon us, and we of course
returned his visit He insisted upon supplying our
caravan with fodder and forage during our stay,
and utterly declined to take any payment. To
him also we were indebted for the comfortable

92 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HABCO POLO.

house we occupied ; and though prepared to accept,
to that extent, the hospitality so freely offered in
the East, it was somewhat emharrassing to be
beholden for all our wants, simple though they
were. The Amban was a young: • lookinir man of
thirty . seven, a native of HonL province. He
gave us to understand that he was the son of
an o£5icial occupying a high position in Chinese
Turkestan, where he had himself been for twelve
years. Of a jovial disposition, fond of good living
and cheerful company, he invited us to stay for
a week, and to accept his hospitality. Finding
that we were firm, and intended to continue the
journey with as little delay as possible, he pressed
us to honour him with our company at least at one
feast, promising, if we would only consent, to show
us roimd the town, and metaphorically to ** paint
Kiria i*ed.'' Charmed as we were by his evident
friendliness, and careful as we intended to be
always to smooth the path for other European
travellers who might follow in our steps, we were
reluctantly obliged to decline. Previous experi-
ence of Chinese dinners had taught us both to
look with respect, not untinged with awe, upon
such banquets; besides which, the simple habits
of the last few months, and abstention from all
liquor, had unfitted us to uphold the honour of
our countrymen.

Before following the fortunes of the caravan
farther into the interior of Chinese Turkestan, it
is necessary that my readers should be made
acquainted with the previous history and present
conditions of this great dependency of China.

CHINESE TURKESTAN. 93

Chinese Turkestan is known to have been under
the jurisdiction of that country as early as 150 B.a

In the time of the great Han dynasty not only
did their power extend to the present western
boundary of the Hsing Chiang, but even as far
west as the Caspian their suzerainty was acknow-
ledged. The first expedition of which Chinese
annals speak is one sent by an emperor of the
same Han dynasty, under an o£5icer called Chang-
kian. The expedition was sent to open up, if
possible, communication with Indo-Scythian tribes,
known to the Chinese as Uei-Chi, who, having
been driven out of their original kingdom some-
where between Ehotan and China, had settled
themselves in Bactriana, in their turn ejecting
from thence a Greek dynasty. About the same
period the Chinese began to take vigorous meas-
ures airainst the Huns, Tartar tribes who had
«ttlrf h Chin«. T»rke.i»o. and by 50 ao. th,ir
power was firmly established throughout the whole
dominion.

During the early part of the first century their
power decayed, but towards the end of that period
a famous Chinese general, Panchao by name, ap-
peared in the field, and in a few years reconquered
the whole territory, including Eashgar, pushing his
victories again as far as the Caspian across the
whole of what is now Russian Turkestan. From
this date until about 600 A.D., when the Sui
dynasty was in power, Chinese dominion over their
firontier provinces would appear to have almost
lapsed. But by 627 a.d. a new ruler, Taitsung of
the Tang dynasty, had once more consolidated

94 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

Chinese authority, and had carried the empire as
far west as Samarcand. About the end of the
seventh century the Chinese power in the Far
West had reached its zenith.

From this time till the commencement of the
Mongol conquest of China, which began about 950
A.D., little is heard of the central Asiatic portion
of the empire. It is known to have been occupied
even as far north as the Tien Shan Nan-lu by an
invasion from Tibet, and to have been held by
Tibetans.

When Chingis Khan, the Mongol emperor, grad-
ually asserted his power over the then Chinese
Empire, he captured, in 1205, the kingdom of
Tangut, which occupied the extreme north-west,
probably a portion of it lying within what is now
the Hsing Chiang. Okkodai, the son of Chingis^
carried his Mongol hordes, as is well known, as far
west as the confines of Poland, embracing in these
conquests the whole of Central Asia. Under Kublai
Khan, a successor to Okkodai, Chinese Turkestan
was included in what was then known as the
Chagatai Khanate or middle empire of the Tar-
tars. It is of interest to remember that this
empire also included most of Kussian Turkestan
and Afghanistan.

During the years succeeding the gradual decay
and fall of the Mongol dynasty, which passed
away about 1368 A.D., the history of Chinese
Turkestan is that common to the larger part of
Asia at that period.

One ephemeral kingdom succeeded another, as
Khan after Khan endeavoured either to extend

A VAGUE ABEA. 95

his dominioDfi or to consolidate what he possessed.
During this time Eashgar and Ehotan figure prom-
inently as capitals, sometimes of a kingdom extend-
ing as far north as Aksu and Turfan, sometimes, in
the case of Khotan, of a princedom not stretching
far beyond its own immediate limits.

The rulers of Eastern Turkestan have nearly
always been Mohammedans, from the time of
Tughlak Tinur, who was the first Mohammedan
sovereign of Kashgar, of the lineage of Chingis.

In 1757 Zungaria was conquered by the Chinese,
and the following year, by sowing discord among
the local rulers, they succeeded in bringing Turke-
stan also imder their rule. From that date until
the present time Chinese administration has con-
tinued to be enforced. Frequent risings, such as
those instigated by Mohammed Ali, the Khan of
Khokhand, in 1812, and more than one rebellion,
have marked the course of their rule, but though
severely shaken it survived even the outbreak of
1866, which gave rise to Yakub Beg.

The geographical area commonly known as
Chinese Turkestan is a somewhat vague one. By
some geographers it is considered to embrace the
larger portion of the western extra-mural Chinese
Empire. By others the area so described is con-
fined to the basins drained by the streams which
run into Lopnor, as well as by those which lose
themselves in the great central desert, the Takla
Makan.

From the Chinese point of view the latter are
more nearly correct, the territory being always
known to the people of that vast empire as the

96 IN THE FOOTSTBPS OF MARCO POLO.

Hsing Chiang or new frontier. The general boun-
daries are as follows : On the north the Tian Shan
and the Altai Mountains; on the west the Tian
Shan, the Eizil Art, and the Pamirs; on the
south the main range of the giant Euen Lim forms
an almost impregnable barrier, whilst on the east
no such natural boundary exista Although the
desert of Gobi stretches as far as the Khingan
range, situated in longitude 120 E., that portion of
it included in Chinese Turkestan may be said to
end at the main track which leads from Ansi-Chou
in Eansu province to Hami in the Hsing Chiang.
For the greater part of its length the frontier of
Chinese Turkestan is coterminous with that of
Russia. From the Taghdumbash Pamir and Fort
Murgabi, as far north-east as Euldja and Tar-
bogutai, the frontiers actually touch. Continuing
north and east, China is approached through and
hemmed in by Russian territory the whole way
to the border of Manchuria, a distance of nearly
3000 miles.

The inhabitants of the Hsing Chiang are for the
most part Mohammedans of Turki descent. They
are a branch of the so-called Eastern Turks which
includes the Uzbegs of Russian Turkestan. The
home of the original Turks was in the vicinity
of the Altai mountains, whence they migrated in
large numbers at an early period of history towards
China and towards Turkestan. It was in the latter
direction that they encountered the line of least
resistance, and thither they therefore wandered in
the greatest numbers. The Western Turks com-
prise the Osmanli or Ottoman branch and the

EAST£RN TURKISH. 97

Toicomans, — in fact, they represent what is com-
monly miderstood in Europe by the word Turk.
The language in use among these people is known
as the Chagatai dialect. It is the oldest form of
Turkish which has come down to us in the Arab
character, and it is still spoken throughout Trans-
Oziana, Turkestan, and Eashgar.

In Yarkand and Eashgar this language is known
as Turki, while in Samarcand and Bokhara it is
called Vzhegi. We know that many of the
masterpieces of Arabic literature owe their origin
to Mohanmiedans of Central Asia, as, during the
flourishing literary period of the Timur dynasty,
the capital of which was at Samarcand, all theo-
logical and didactic works were written — as they
still are— in Arabic : their authors rarely employed
in their compositions the principal vernacular of
their countries — viz., Eastern Turkish.

In addition to the native Turkis, the population of
Chinese Turkestan, especially in the vicinity of
ELashgar, includes a large number of alien& At-
tracted to the country in the first instance as traders
and afterwards in many caaes remaining as settlers,
these outsiders soon adopt, at any rate, the outward
character of the ordinary population. Among them
are Indian traders of various races : Pathans, Kash-
miris, Baluchis, Cabulis, as well as the ubiquitous
Andijanis, the latter subjects of the Czar of Russia.
There are, too, a fairly large proportion of Chinese
and Turki half-breeds, also some Tibetans. Of
Chinese, the southern part of the Hsing Chiang
holds very few. Here and there poor traders, in
many cases opium -sodden specimens of the worst

98 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

type, may be met with in the bazars of Eiria, Nia,
Cherchen, or Chakalik. As a rule, the Amban or
district magistrate is himself the only represent-,
ative of the respectable class of Chinese. The
underlings attached to the various magistrates, —
j^omen- runners, interpreters, and such like minor
hangers-on, — though dressed as Chinese, are, in
almost every caAe, Turkis or half-breeds.

Of the physical aspects of the Turkis of this area
it is di£5icult to speak. To look at, both men and
women are decidedly a fine race, nor is sickness
common in the country districts. If, however, we
Accept their character, as history has exposed it,
even during the last half-century, we find unmistak-
able evidence that they are lacking in almost every
quality which a really martial race possesses.

To make another comparison. The natives of
Chinese Turkestan are not so fine a looking race as
the Turkomans and Uzbegs, both of Turkish descent,
who are met with in Bokhara and other parts of
Russian Turkestan. Yet again, the character of
both branches may be deduced from the fact that
the Bokhariots, as soldiers, are looked upon with as
much contempt by the Russians as are the inhabit-
ants of Eastern Turkestan by the Chinese.

Environment, it is well known, has a good deal to
do with forming the character of any race, and the
peaceful habits — not to use a stronger expression —
of these dwellers in the oases on the southern side
of the Takla Makan desert may partly be due to
their agricultural and pastoral pursuits.

Unharried by war, for the rebellion initiated by
Yakub Beg is the only instance in the last half-

TH£ ANDUANIS. 99

century, and supplied by nature with sufficient for
their wants in the shape of good harvests, the exist-
ence of these tribesmen is indeed simple to a degree.
Among the crops which flourish in most of the oases
are wheat, cotton, hemp (c^rro^), opium, tobacco, and
Indian corn ; while vegetables and fruit of the best
quality grow freely. The methods of agriculture in
force are naturally those of the uninstructed East ;
nor is high farming or the use of iron instruments
necessary in a soil both light and so fertile. The
pasturing of flocks and herds is chiefly confined to
the shepherds who dwell along the lower slopes of
the Kuen Lun range. Here are to be foimd the
necessary requisites of grass and water, the latter
supplied by the numerous torrential streams which
serve to carry off* the melting snows, only eventu-
ally to perish in their turn, absorbed by the re-
morseless sands of the central desert.

From reference made to the peaceful character of
the Turki population, it might be assumed that the
possession of such traits would lead to a busy com-
mercial life. The opposite is, however, the case.

For the most part the commerce of Chinese
Turkestan is at present in the hands of Russian
subjects, though in some of the larger towns, to the
north of the Takla Makan, the Chinese have of late
years shown more intention to compete. The trading
class, par excellence^ is composed of Andijanis, in-
habitants of Western Turkestan, who may fairly be
described as the Jews of Central Asia. In almost
every smaU oasis along the inhabited strip which
borders the Kuen Lun, as well as over the northern
trades routes, the Andijanis are found. Even in

100 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

China proper, in the province of Kansu, their shops
are to be seen competing and holding theur own
with those of the industrious Chinese.

The chief articles of import they sell are Russian
ironware, leather -work, coloured cottons, candles,
matches, and lump sugar. Of superior goods, there
is a kind of black cloth for best clothes, like alpaca,
and, in addition, they have introduced embroidery
for those able to afford such a luxury.

The Indian traders are naturally in greatest force
at Kashgar and in the neighbourhood of Tarkand,
though they have also settled at Kuchar. At
Cherchen we fell in with a small company, to whom
reference is made in a later chapter.

101

CHAPTER VI.

ISTBODUCnON OF BUDDHISM INTO CHINA— ▲ GARDEN ENCAMPMENT
—A CHINESE OCTBO/— NITA AND ITS BURIED RUINS— A SPORTING
BSO— a|VARIETT pack or hounds— primitive SPEARS — HAWKING
— A PIG HUNT — A PICTURESQUE BEAT — AN IMPROMPTU HORSE-
RACE — ONE or nature's gentlemen.

Upon leaving Eiria a choice of routes is open to the
traveller proceeding east. Mention has already
been made of the ancient main track which centuries
past formed the connecting link between China and
India. Fifteen himdred years ago this route was
as well known, at any rate to the Chinese who
controlled it, as it is to-day, and for this reason.
At the commencement of our era, Buddhism first
began to find its way to China from India. Ancient
Chinese records prove that it was chiefly by the
passage to and fro along this very route of many
devotees, priests, and pi^ims, that the transform-
ation took place. Although as early as 126 B.c.
the first reports of "the great renimciation " had
reached China, it was not for some little while that
the religion Prince Siddartha founded was adopted
in that country. The story of the return of the
envoy Chang Chien, who was the first to tell of
Buddhism, is worthy of being remembered. In the
present day we are apt to consider we live in an era

102 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

of travel, but what would be said now of such a
journey as that made by Chang Chien? Leaving
China about 140 B.C., this intrepid man began his
wanderings by being kept a prisoner by the Huns
in Chinese Turkestan for ten years. Escaping from
their clutches, he eventually reached his destina-
tion, the capital of an Indo-Scythian race, situated
on the north bank of the Oxus river. Returning
through Bactriana, he again ventured into the
country of the Huns, but on attempting to pass by
the Khotan-Lopnor route, that which we were now
traversing, was captured a second time. How long
he was detained is not clear, but whatever the period
it was only after thirteen years' absence that he was
able again to reach China. The actual adoption of
Buddhism by the Chinese occurred about the year
67 A.D., and following the example of most of the
great religions of the world, the introduction of it is
ascribed in Chinese annals to a miraculous agency.

In the reign of the Emperor Mingti, one of the
eastern Han dynasty, that potentate dreamed a
dream. In his sleep, it is related, he imagined that
he saw a golden figure floating in a halo of light
across the room. Unable, like Pharaoh, to con-
ceive what meaning to place upon his dream,
Mingti assembled his wise men and astrologers,
and from them invited suggestions as to its in-
terpretation. Unpleasant as such a call upon
their inventive faculties must have been, it is
probable that these wiseacres were sufficiently in
touch with the thoughts and hopes of their noble
master to be able to judge with some certainty
what was expected of them. They hinted in reply

TWO CHINESE PILORIIiS. 103

that the figure seen by the emperor was probably
that of Buddha, — for with the new religion it must
be remembered they were already familiar, and
the result of this explanation was the despatch
of a special envoy to India to investigate the
truth. After a considerable period of absence the
envoys returned, having obtained not only the
necessary sacred books, pictures, and insignia of
the new religion, but having also been fortunate
enough to persuade some Indian priests to accom-
pany them to the home of their ruler. It was
aft;er this manner that a faith as pure as any
the world has known was introduced to China, — a
country and people by whom for nearly two thousand
years it has since been neglected and debased.

As long ago as the fifth century, two of the best
known of Chinese pilgrims. Fa Hien and Hiuen
Tsang, have given us the results of separate journeys
made over the route we now intended to follow.
Both Fa Hien and Hiuen Tsang were born travellers,
and both have left records as interesting as they
are authentic. From their writings, and particu-
larly those of the latter, we are indebted for
mention of many places and towns whose very
sites are now unknown. In spite of what has
already been done in the way of exploration, it
is more than possible that we are only beginning
to unravel many of the archaeological and historical
mysteries connected with a former and far more
flourishing state in the western half of Chinese
Turkestan. Few as fascinating scenes for such
work are to be found in the present day. Un-
fortunately China itself, which from its past

104 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

history and — in spite of Western criticism — its
present wonderful state of general civilisation,
ought to be a subject of interest, especially to our
countrymen, is even now a sealed book to the
great majority. Why this should be so it is
difficult to imagine. One reason lies perhaps in
the difficulty — nay, almost impossibility, to dwellers
in Europe — of becoming acquainted with either
its past or present records. Intimately connected
as these have been shown to be with the middle
East, even as early as the first century of our era,
we in Europe have little knowledge of them, and
until it is more widely realised how close this
connection was with our own great Indian empire,
and that almost entirely by means of the ancient
route referred to, interest in the early civilisation
of China, and in its later history, will, it is to
be feared, be confined to a very limited niunber
of inquirers.

Some eighty miles east of Kiria stands the town
of Niya, though such places cannot be called towns
in the European sense of the word. It is at Niya
that the choice of tracks to Cherchen is offered.
Three marches suffice to cover the distance firom
Kiria to Niya, and throughout these we again
made the curiously rapid transit firom the rich
vegetation of the oases to the desert sands. At
times as much as thirty feet high, these sand-
ridges continue on occasions for two hundred yards
in length. The depressions between the ridges
are sometimes only twenty to thirty feet across,
and the main ridges are irregularly connected by
other subsidiary ones of shorter length. At in-

THE widow's garden. 106

tervals patches are found four hundred yards
square where the surface is more or less level,
small sand-heaps being dotted over it. The desert
track is well marked by local traffic over and round
the sand-dunes, but it would be impossible to follow
it at night, — the usual thick haze limited the view
to a distance of under a mile. Time is luckily of
no object in the East, and for the sake of the pack
animals it is as well that it should be so. Very
trying are the heavy sands, and the constant sur-
mounting of the loose ridges is most wearying to
anything but camels. For ourselves, it was still
a source of pleasure to feel warm and to bask in the
sun. To add to our happiness, we had obtained a
firesh supply of tobacco at Kiria, and though it bore
more resemblance to dried sawdust than the plant
it was sold to us as representing, we were in no
condition to be fastidious.

One of the most pleasing camping-grounds we
had yet enjoyed fell to our lot between Kiria and
Niya. The tents had been pitched in a pretty
garden, surrounded by what are locally known as
jigda trees, a species of date, which is universally
eaten throughout the oases. The garden belonged
to an old widow who, by the look of the farmstead,
should have been comfortably blessed with this world's
goods. She was eager that we should accept her
hospitality, so far as the use of her garden was con-
cerned, and, but for the sake of les convenances, we
would have invited her to join us round the glorious
camp-fire our men prepared. Sitting toasting our-
selves that night by the blazing logs, sheltered from
every breath of wind, we compared our present

106 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

condition with that through which we had lately
passed. Coming from the all -day trek in the
desert) the garden filled with its trees and Indian
com seemed all the prettier, and as we lay watch-
ing the myriads of stars which lit the darkness
above our heads, the fulness of the wanderer's joy
at not being under a roof was ours.

Before starting in the morning we bade good-bye
to the old lady, nor did she forget to tell us, and
that most volubly, what a lot she had given for the
piece of silver she had received. For the sake of
her widowhood we doubled the value of the silver,
though she had given us little but shelter, which in
the East one does not usually pay for.

Traversing one of the smaller oases next day, we
were amused to find a typical example of Chinese
procedure and habits of thought. The tiny village
of which the oasis consisted was composed of one
narrow lane, at the end of which stood an octroi
hut built of mud-and-wattle. Across the end of
the lane was a light though imposing gateway of
wood, some eighteen feet high, on each side of
which had been erected twenty yards of high
fencing, no more nor less. All round the village
and on each side of the fence the endless sands
represented the wide, wide world, nor was there
any conceivable reason why this ofiicial - looking
barrier should have been erected, for assuredly no
occupant of the village need ever enter its portals.
To the European mind it was ludicrous in the
extreme, which only served to remind us how far
apart is the Oriental from the Occidental train of
thought. Observing in jest to one of our own

NIYA. 107

caravan men that some villager might accidentally
ride his donkey round the paling instead of through
the gate, the remark was literally accepted and
replied to with a solemnity befitting the occasion.
No doubt, had we been aware of it, we left in that
village a reputation for dense stupidity in not
knowing what a gate was intended for.

As the track approaches Niya the character of
the surrounding country changes. In the last few
miles the sandy ridges give place to rocks and
stones, among which may be traced the shallow
overflow channels of the Niya river when in flood.
Outside the village the caravan was met as usual
by the local Beg. A comfortable serai had been
already prepared for our arrival, so it was un-
necessary to camp. It had been our intention to
follow local custom and to make a pilgrimage from
Niya to a well-known tomb, that of Imam Jafar
Sadik, but we were unable to do so. The shrine
is situated four days' march to the north, and is
reached by following the Niya river down its course
towards the desert. It was here that Dr Stein
made some of his most valuable finds four years
previously. Among them the ancient tablets in-
scribed with Kharoshti characters take the chief
place, and are fully described by him in his interest-
ing book, *The Sand -buried Ruins of Khotan.'
Being unable to devote ourselves, much to our
regret, to the study of buried cities, we decided
instead to accept the offer made by the Beg to
hawk and hunt boar with him on the following day.
The name Niya covers the surrounding district as
well as the village, and in the country adjacent to

108 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

the river to the north the Beg has as fine a domain
to pursue the sport he loves as any one could desire.
On either side of the river the country Is thick
jungle, with open well -watered patches, which,
besides affording excellent pasturage, are the haunt
of hares, wild boar, and quantities of geese and
duck. Beyond the strips of vegetation bordering
the stream He the sands of the desert, the change
from the one to the other being, as already re-
marked, as abrupt as though a boundary fence was
there. One advantage In this Is that In beating for
game It Is only necessary to follow the river, for
sooner or later the quarry will be unearthed. After
the evening meal we discussed the question of the
morrow's hunt with the Beg, who, we soon dis-
covered, was as fond of sport as ourselves.

His sentiments might have been summed up In
the well-known lines attributed by Whyte-MelvUle
to the owner of " the good grey mare ** : —

" I have lived my life — I am nearly done, —
I have played the game all round ;
But I freely admit that the best of my fun
I owe it to horse and hound."

Could he but have enjoyed the privilege of reading
his own thoughts so dellghtfiiUy put, he would have
been the first to appreciate the truth expressed In
these lines. Having listened for some time to the
accounts the Beg gave of his hawks, we asked
whether there was any other form of sport to be
had. To our delight he replied that there were pig
which we could shoot, but which he himted with
dogs and spears. We could hardly credit our hear-
ing at the latter words, but a string of questions

A MAN OF HIS WORD. 109

from both of us soon showed that we had made no
mistake, and that there was every chance of our
tasting once more the finest sport that the world
holds. After another hour's discussion of details —
of spears, dogs, beaters, ponies, &c., — all was satis-
factorily arranged. The Beg possessed only two
spears, but promised that another should be locally
made and ready by the morning. The dogs he
ordered there and then to be caught and shut up
for the night ; and the necessary arrangements for
beaters and ponies appeared to require no pre-
liminary preparation. Bidding each other good-
night the Beg departed, leaving us with the most
pleasant anticipation for the morrow we had enjoyed
since quitting India.

Waking at dawn, we found our host to be indeed
a man of his word. In the half-light of morn-
ing in the village street were collected the ponies,
men, and dogs, and a more mixed or quainter group
it is difficult to imagine. The animals which the
Beg was kind enough to provide were useful beasts,
though small. My own was a young four-year-old,
13.1 hands high, but good-looking, and as game as
could be. The Beg and his men were also on useful
animals, both tough and wiry, though good looks
were not their strong point. Of the followers no
description could hope to give a true idea. A local
meet of the hounds in the west of Ireland would
perhaps produce some few types representing what
we found — that is, as nearly as anything European
could. But that the Beg's men knew their job and
were eager to do it we very soon discovered. Of the
hounds, too, it is useless to hope to give much idea.

110 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

There were only four of them, but once seen they
could never be forgotten. Had it been necessary
to classify the whole pack in the quite impossible
supposition that they were to figure at a local dog
show, they could have foimd a corner upon only one
set of benches, those usually devoted to the hetero-
geneous mixture known as the Variety Class. No
sooner did one discover some resemblance to a
terrier's head in one of them than it became equally
evident that the rest of his body was that of a bob-
tailed sheep-dog. Another old lady was a perfect
Borzois, so far as her head and body could be
named, but, unfortunately. Nature in a thoughtless
moment had given her the legs of a spaniel. Of
the other two no description need be attempted.
Both were evidently reluctant to exchange the
comforts of loafing in the village for the danger of
routing out boar. And to reach the scene of our
sport they had to be dragged out at the end of a
long rope by one of the followers, who did his best
to hang them whenever a stray bush happened to
get between him and the dogs.

While I had been looking over the personnel^ my
companion had busied himself in finding what were
to us the most important things, the spears. Turn-
ing to speak to him, I found him in doubtful
admiration of the weightiest and largest specimen
we had ever seen. Some 2 inches in diameter,
there was about 10 feet length of shaft. At the
end, tacked on by two local - looking nails, was
18 inches of old iron shaped at the point. The
shaft was both new and rough, — balance it had
none; on a 13- hand pony it was no easy matter

THEOWING A HAWK. Ill

to keep any of it off the ground : but who could
look a gift - horse in the mouth ? The Beg had
promised to do his best, and had done it for our
benefit ; so we gladly accepted the will for the deed,
warning ourselves, however, to be careful when the
time came to use the spear.

Quitting the village, an hour's smart jog through
the dusty outskirts, where one well-to-do farm after
another was passed, brought our party into wilder
country. We were now back on the banks of the
river, which are here flat but covered with low
scrub and j heels, — a paradise for the countless flocks
of duck, geese, and teal which dwell there. As he
took his favourite hawk from his own attendant,
a hint from the Beg gave us to understand that
business was about to commence. One of the
curiosities of local sport is the manner in which
these men appear able to keep their hawks on
wrist while galloping over very rough ground.
Spreading ourselves to look for the necessary duck,
it was not long before we came upon a flock in
a low-lying bit of wet ground. The Beg at once
cantered forward, and when still a few hundred
yards distant from the now rising duck, threw his
hawk, and away she sped. Going like the pro-
verbial arrow, she made straight for the flock,
but, wheeling abruptly just short of them, swung
suddenly round to fly back and re-perch gracefully
on the outstretched arm of the Beg. Here was
a bad beginning, but the next effort was more
successful. Crossing an open bit of ground, a few
duck suddenly rose from a concealed pond some
distance to our right. Without a moment's hesi-

112 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

tation the Beg again galloped forward, loosing
his hawk with one throw, and on this occasion
with great success. The duck were not three
hundred yards distant, had hardly even risen,
when like a flash the hawk was upon them. This
time there was no hesitation, and, almost quicker
than the eye could follow, she struck, and down
went hawk and duck, locked together, into the
scrub.

Cantering up, we oflFered our congratulations in
dumb show to the now smiling Beg, and requested
his permission to take a photograph. This he
very readily accorded, and the result may be seen
in the pictures on another page. For the next
few hours we amused ourselves with various
flights — both successful and unsuccessful. Some-
times the hawks appeared unwilling to strike
though able, and at other times, of course, luck
was against them. Occasionally a hawk not only
would not attempt to chase but declined to return.
It then would perch on the nearest tree, and
much blandishment was required on the part of its
master to regain possession of the handsome creat-
ure. By mid-day the duck were mostly gone, so
it was decided to give up the hawking and try
for a boar. To reach the best ground required
a ride of another ten miles in the direction of the
desert, but still through the scrub, which gradually
thickened and grew higher as we drew near the
favourite ground.

It was not long before the tracks of fresh pig
were discovered, and though at first we attempted
to initiate a methodical effort at beating, very

A BOAR HUNT. 113

soon each man was hunting on his own account.
Through the scrub ran some clear brooks where
the ground sometimes opened out, and alongside
which the pig evidently wallowed. In vain we
followed what appeared to be fresh tracka These
usually led either into impenetrable jungle or were
lost among the other marks which here ran in all
directions. After an hour of this disappointing
work we were all relieved to hear that a boar had
been harboured by one of the native hunters in
a large shallow jheel. The jheel was so thickly
covered with tall reeds, fifteen to sixteen feet high,
that only with the greatest difficulty could the
trackers penetrate. Sitting on the edge of the
scrub, we were watching their slow advance when
suddenly a rustle, followed by a quick parting
of the reeds just ahead of them, told us the boar
was there. In another minute loud shouts and
holloas — and the Turki can holloa — proclaimed
that he had broke on the far side of the jheel.
For the moment we were prepared to face the
muddy water in the endeavour to follow in his
track, but the Beg, with one yell, turned his
pony, and digging both heels in, galloped wildly
up the jheel-side. Breaking from the fairly open
scrub into a narrow cattle-track, he quickened his
pace, evidently riding to cut off the boar at the
head of the jheel. Nothing loath, as soon as we
understood the situation, we followed in his wake.
The path was barely wide enough for a calf, and
as full of holes and as poached as a jungle track
usually is. On either side the scrub at times
nearly met overhead, and the track occasionaUy

114 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

wound almost at right angles to avoid some par^
ticularly dense piece of growth. Forgetful of
such trifles^ and only intent upon retaining pos-
session of our unwieldy spears, we still followed
our leader, whom we could see at intervals dis-
appearing at full gallop round one comer after
another. Ten minutes of this work brought us
nearly to the top end of the jheel where the
track forked. One branch ran on, the other
turned short, crossing the shallow end through the
now thinning reeds. Following the latter path,
I succeeded in forcing a way through, just in time
to see the Beg clear the scrub and swing away
left-handed in the direction he evidently imagined
the boar had taken. Hesitating for a moment,
I was wondering whether the beast had yet
emerged, when a crash on my right put all doubts
at rest.

Not twenty yards away a great grey boar
trotted slowly up the side of the sandy hillock,
pursued by one dog, and at the same moment
became aware of my presence. There was no
time to think, not even to remember the caution
we had vowed to observe when called upon to
make use of the ill -balanced old spear. Down
went mine, and shaking up my little pony I made
for the boar. Whether the unusual sight of a
white man or the shouts of the natives caused
the brute to change his mind, I do not know ;
suffice it to say that he checked his charge in
mid-career, and swung off up the sand-hill just
as my pony jinked violently, ingloriously turning
his tail upon the boar. "Well for him," I can

A SECOND DRAW. 116

hear the experienced pig-sticker remark, ''that
the boar had two minds," and perhaps it was ;
but the sight of as fine a specimen of the old grey
pig as the heart could desire had fairly set our
blood boiling. Throwing caution to the winds,
and forgetful alike of doubtful spears, infernal
ground, even, I am sorry to say, of the old dog,
whom we mercilessly over -rode, away went my
companion and myself in full pursuit, followed at
some little distance by the Beg, who had now
come up, and two of the best mounted of his men.
For a quarter of an hour we enjoyed the feeling
of bliss which only those can realise who have
been hard at the heels of either boar or fox at
their best pace for that time; but gradually we
b^an to lose ground. The line our quarry took
led us deeper and deeper into the jungle, and in
spite of the efforts of our gallant little ponies, it
was evident that utter grief must soon follow the
attempt to continue. The scrub was up to the
ponies' necks, there was no possibility of seeing
the boar, and we had long ago distanced the Beg
and his men. Sadly we allowed our streaming
animals to slow down, and though we pushed on
into a thick patch where another of the dogs
appeared to be busy, we had evidently lost our
boar. Returning somewhat disconsolate at the
disappointment, we made for a reed hut, or satma
as they are called, to eat the sandwiches we had
brought with us. Having soon disposed of these,
the whole party moved off once more for a second
draw. The jheel had provided such sport in the
morning that the Beg suggested trying there again.

116 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

Stripping off their long boots, the men waded in,
and in a short time another boar was reported
roused. After beating the reeds, as far as the
men dared to wade in, with little result, the Beg
ordered them to be fired. This was no easy matter,
nor could the men get the fire to spread, although
the reeds were set alight in three or four places.
While this was going on we sat on the edge of the
water thoroughly enjoying the picture before us.

The jheel was situated under rising sand-hills
which ran along one side of it. Upon the hillocks the
Beg had placed what might be called his ^* whips,''
in order to view the boar should he break that side.
Not content with their elevated position, both these
men were to be seen at intervals standing upright
on their ponies' backs. A strange sight it was to
see them balanced at full height on their ungainly
saddles. Each man held his bridle in one hand,
while with the other each shaded his eyes as he
peered on all sides over the surrounding country.
In the immediate foreground heavy coils of grey
smoke hung over the yellow reed -tops, while the
roaring fire made blotches of flaming red against
the muddy water below. In the immediate fore-
ground, wading nearly up to their waists, wild
figures pushed their way back and forwards among
the reeds, directed by the Beg, who had now dis-
mounted from his pony, and was shouting directions
from the bank.

The whole scene combined a wonderful mixture
of life and colour to which no photograph could
attempt to do justice. Nothing but the brush of
an artist could have caught the spirit of such a

AN IMPROMPTU RACE. 117

picture, and unfortunately the occasions are rare
when a combination of painter and such a scene
are both ready to hand. In spite of all the efforts
made to cause the boar to break, he declined to
do so, unless, indeed, as we began to think, he had
slipped away earlier in the afternoon, avoiding the
keen eyes of both look-out men. As the day was
*a^ on. and we were »ome fifteen maes^from
home, a move was now made in the direction of
Niya. Though we had all been in the saddle
since dawn, our host seemed to consider there was
yet time for more hawking, and on the way home
he treated us to several flights. Whether it was
that the hawks were weary or were disinclined
to fly so late in the day, I cannot pretend to say,
knowing little of the sport of hawking. What-
ever the reason may have been, the only result of
the Beg's efforts was one failure after another,
until at last, angered at the apparent disinclina-
tion of his favourite hawk, he began to throw it
indiscriminately at crows, larks, or anything that
flew by. After one final failure at some duck
which had settled in an open pool on the river, the
Beg desisted. The hawk had missed the duck and
had settled on the far bank of the stream, from
which it was with diflSculty retrieved. We were
then some five miles from Niya, and expected to
be allowed to jog home in well -contented peace,
but were soon undeceived.

Rejoining us where we had waited for him while
he had made his last unsuccessful flight, the Beg
set his pony going towards home at a good pace,
and we followed suit. Not content with this, he

118 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ICABCO POLO.

drove his afiimal ahead with one of his men, evi-
dently wishing us to take part in an extempore
race.

Now the blood of few Englishmen can withstand
such a challenge, even though they have been ten
hours on the back of the same pony, and that a
little beast such as those we rode. Away flew the
Beg and his man, and after him went we ventre
^ terre.

The track to Niya was a sandy strip of soft
going, and down this, as we drew near the out-
skirts of the village, the weary natives were
placidly making their way home; nor did they
seem to consider there was anything unusual in
the method we chose of returning. I was begin-
ning to wonder how we could be expected to avoid
upsetting half the respectable townsfolk in Niya,
when our abrupt arrival at a bend of the river
put a stop to our headlong course.

Slowly we forded the shallow stream, and as if
touched by a spell the whole company became
suddenly solemn Asiatics once more. We had left
Niya, as has been said, at dawn; we returned at
dusk. It was the last day of Ramazan, and not
a morsel of food had the Beg or any of his followers
touched for many hours. All honour to them that
they could show themselves such whole-hearted
children under such a strain.

Mindful of the feast, and anxious that our host
should be able to reach his house as soon as possible,
for the moon would shortly rise, we tried in vain
to dissuade him from accompanying us home. True
to the courteous instinct which seems to have its

ONE OF nature's GENTLEMEN. 119

origin in the East, the Beg insisted upon seeing us
to the gate of our serai. There, in receipt of our
grateful thanks, he lefl us, but I can see his tall
upright figure now. Built in a larger mould than
is usual among his compatriots, he was a man of
silent reserved character. Possessing in addition
a tireless frame, a keen love of the open, and a very
warm heart, our friend was as good a specimen of
one of nature's gentlemen as could be found.

120

CHAPTER VII.

THE MOUNTAIN ROUTE TO OHEBOHEN — THE GOROES OF THE NITA
RIYBB — SOROHACK — OOLD- DIGGINGS — DOWN THE MINE — PRE-
mSTORIO METHODS — VARIABLE MEASURES OF DISTANCE — THE
SHEPHERDS OF THE KUEN LUN— KOPA — THE MTSTERT OF A SOUP-
TIN — THE MARCH TO CHERCHEN — A RUSH FOR WATER — AN UN-
FRIENDLY AKSAKAL — THE AMBAN OF CHERCHEN — THE VERACITT
OF MARCO POLO^CHINESE AND INDIAN TRADERS— THE AMBAN'S
CIGAR.

It is at Niya that the choice of routes to Cherchen
and Lopnor must be made. In view of the desert
crossing we intended to make from Lopnor to the
Chinese frontier, it was our present aim as far as
possible to spare the animals. Time, within limits,
was a secondary consideration.

By taking what is known as the desert route to
Cherchen, the chance is afforded the traveller of
further acquaintance with the buried cities of the
past. He must, however, be prepared for greater
diflSculties in the matter of supplies and water
than is met with on the southern route which we
intended to follow. It was at Endere on the
desert route, half-way between Cherchen and Niya,
that another of Dr Stein's important finds was
made. In the excavations carried out by him
there, Tibetan paper leaves of a date circa 750 a.d.
were brought to light, which add valuable evidence

KUEN LUN ONCE MORE. 121

to that already afforded by Chinese annals of an
invasion of Chinese Turkestan by those wild people
about that date.

Having decided to take the mountain track, we
left Niya on the morning of 3rd November. It was
not without some misgiving that we turned our
steps south again, for there facing us, when the
haze allowed, rose the rugged peaks of the Kuen
Lim mountains, and to renew acquaintance with
them was the last thing we wished for.

Hidden away on their northern slopes lies Sorg-
hack. And it was for this spot, the centre of the
local gold industry, that we were now bound.

Between Sorghack and Niya lies a stretch of
waste land some thirty miles wide. Upon it nothing
grows, nor is there vegetation of any kind. A rock-
strewn glacis to the lower Kuen Lun hills, this
lifeless strip completely cuts off Sorghack from the
more fertile oases to the north. Midway a family
of enterprising Turkis have started a half-way camp,
represented by two or three miserable hovels, to
which water, wood, and grass had all to be sent
to enable us to cross. Rising from the midst of
the bare plain, the little encampment has all the
appearance of a small island. Though close to the
right bank of the Niya river, this proximity is of
no value. The river-bank is fifty feet deep and a
cliff, preventing access to the bed of the stream.
The latter, though 200 to 250 yards across at this
point, was quite waterless.

In preparation for facing the eighteen miles into
Sorghack, we rose the next morning by starlight
to find a large convoy of men and donkeys, 250 in

122 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

number, had come down from that place in the
night They had been engaged in taking up
stores from Niya, whence every bit of food and
fodder for the gold-diggers has to be fetched.
Sorghack has no supplies of its own. Continuing
across the rock-hewn waste, we followed the right
bank of the stream. Its diff-like sides are still
more rugged and broken, and at times as much as
200 feet high, with a sheer drop into the stream-
bed. The stratum through which the mountain
torrents have carved a way is composed of soft
gravelly soil, in which stones of all sizes are
embedded.

The track followed one of the gravelly terraces
which may be seen on both banks. These show
signs of having formed an earlier bed, being
arranged like successive steps from the present
level of the plain down to the edge of the gorge
now constituting the channel. On the terraces the
big stones are water-worn and smooth, relics of a
previous time when they lay in the bed of the
stream. Some have circular holes hollowed smooth
by the well-known action of water grinding a small
pebble in a cup where the latter has lodged.

Approaching closer to Sorghack, the rocky plain
as it gradually rises gives way to broken dusty
hills of loess formation, equally devoid of vegeta-
tion. Over the hills and deep ravines leads a
good track, ten feet broad. Skilfully engineered
at very steep gradients, it crosses the ridges mainly
at right angles. On both sides of it numerous
old gold -pockets were to be seen, as they had
also been for the last two or three miles in the

AN UNINVITING SPOT. 123

river-bed. Mounting one of the steepest gradients
of all by a good zigzag track, we reached a ridge
firom which a view is obtained over a cup in
the bare hills. In the bottom of this cup lies
the present gold centre, and a more arid unm-
viting spot could not easily be found. Though
marked upon European maps as of the same size
as Liverpool or Philadelphia, Sorghack is merely
a collection of wattle -built semi - underground
huts and regular caves. It has all the appear-
ance of the early mining camp with which Bret
Harte once made us familiar. Lack of water and
an all-enveloping dust are its two main character-
istic& The Niya river runs past the village on
the west and southern sides at the distance of
one mile. The flood water has carved its way
through the soft loess soil, forming a precipitous
and picturesque gorge some hundred feet deep.
So cliff- like are the sides of the gorge, that in
order to obtain access to the bottom, the inhabit-
ants have been driven to make use of the bed
of one of the numerous subsidiary gullies which
have been cut into the main gorge by the over-
flow of the surface-water during the rains, or at
the time of the snow melting. This subsidiary
gully starts from the general level at some
distance from the edge of the main gorge, but
so pliable and easily worn is the loess soil that
the water, instead of cutting its way to the gorge
above ground, has actually worn a channel more
rapidly by tunnelling, with the result that the
gully debouches into the bed of the main gorge
in this curious manner. Down this freak path-

124 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

way alone, to use an Americanism, is any accees
to the precious water obtainable. And it is
only by making use of it that the inhabitants of
Sorghack can drive their donkeys, or go them-
selves to fetch water. A strange sight it was
to see the animalfl and the poorer inhabitants
painfaUy struggling up this winding tunnel, the
gradient of which forbids one to ride. Nothing
could better exemplify the difficulties of water-
supply, or the character of the inhabitants, who
make no effort to relieve themselves by attempt-
ing to create artificial storage.

The only respectable buildings at Sorghack stand
in a walled enclosure, eighty yards square. These
are the official offices and gold stores, and do
not represent anything more extravagant in the
building line than a better kind of mud -built
abode, fitted with Chinese lattice and paper
windows. Here we were lodged. SOrrack, as
the name is locally pronounced, contains about
two thousand inhabitants, all of whom are regis-
tered gold-diggers who work for the Chinese
authorities.

According to our information the Beg buys all
the gold that is produced, and sends it to the
Amban at Kiria. The people working at the
dig^ngs are, if necessary, supplied by the Beg
with money for food as each market -day comes
round, but this is only necessary when they have
had ill-luck and have not struck gold. When
found, as has been said, the Beg buys, though
according to what we were told, takes would be
a more correct description of the deal. The people

80BGHACK. 125

come to Sorghack of their own free wiU,— and there
18 said to be no lack of workers, — but once arrived
no one can go away so long as they are to any
extent in debt to the Beg for food money.
Though not exactly a c(yrv6e system, the differ-
ence between what exists and the former is a
somewhat fine one.

Sorghack was first worked about one hundred
years ago by Mongol Kalmucks, who discovered
the gold. There are acres of ground covered
with old pockets, most of which are now disused
Not more than sixty to seventy are at present
being worked in the immediate vicinity.

Unlike the exploiting carried on in the moun-
tains farther west, the mining at Sorghack is
worked by means of deep shafts, locally known
as han. The take from these of course varies
year by year. Some months, when small nuggets
are not scarce, the find, according to the figures
we were able to obtain, is of no inconsiderable
value, and that in spite of the prehistoric
methods still in vogue.

Each shaft is in charge of six to eight men,
women, and children. At the top of the hole is
a rickety windlass, worked by two men. To the
windlass two ancient - looking frayed ropes, the
one of hair the other of hide, were attached.
Both were liberally knotted and re-joined. At
the mouth the hole is some five feet square, and
for the first seven or eight feet of the descent the
sides are strutted with rough logs, and are in-
differently riveted with brushwood. Below this
the hole narrows rapidly, having neither boarding

126 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

nor brushwood. For three-quarters of the descent
the shaft is perpendicular, the last quarter is at
a slight angle. The depth is about ninety feet,
which it took us four perilous moments to discover.
At the start it is necessary to attach oneself as
best may be to the two ancient ropes. No cradle
of any kind is thought of; so after making one or
two loops through which the legs are thrust, the
nervous foreigner swings down into space and utter
darkness. After having been scraped and jerked
until he begins to curse the bump of inquisitive-
ness which induced him to undertake such a mad
enterprise, the bottom of the shaft is reached.
Knees and elbows have suffered severely, the
hide -thong loop has scored the tender part of
one's back, the knots and joins of the ropes have
blistered the palm of one's hands, but what matter t
Do you not stand at the bottom of a gold - mine
shaft, within touch of gold, perhaps upon gold?
What more can the heart of covetous man
desire ?

From the bottom of this particular shaft a low
tunnel, one hundred and three paces in length, has
been excavated. It is from three to four feet in
height, and from one-and-a-half to two feet in width.
The stratum through which the tunnel is bored is
composed of shaly sand and gravel, with an occa-
sional outcrop of rock. Four men work below, one
of whom continues tunnelling and excavating the
earth. Another puts the soil into small skin bags,
with which the third creeps back and forwards to
the bottom of the shaft. The fourth sees to the
hoisting. Greater labour for the time expended on

OOLD-MINIKa EXTRAORDINARY. 127

it oould not be imagined. The sole tools in use con-
sisted of one wooden club, into the head of which a
short iron spike five inches long had been fixed, and
a rude iron-headed hammer with which the soil is
loosened before being put into the skin bags by
hand. There is neither shovel nor trolley, and the
only light available is from two tiny chiraghs. A
closer imitation of primeval man at work one is
not likely to see again.

Arrived at the top, each skin bag is emptied of
its contents on to the heap of soil from the hole. A
man or woman then dips into the heap a rough
wooden bowl, and holding it in both hands high
above his or her head, shakes out all the contents on
to a five-foot square felt, thus winnowing the soil in
the way threshed grain is invariably treated in the
East. More than once is this process repeated;
then, if no nuggets are found, attention is turned to
the residue now left upon the felt — a layer of very
fine gravel. On the knee is the order of the day,
and handful after handful of the gravel is taken
from the felt and blown upon to separate the soil
from any specks of gold-dust which it may contain.
To repeat that the method looked primitive, conveys
but in the faintest manner the impression we gained
from watching such an extraordinary performance.
It appeared as though any number of tiny nuggets
might be passed by, and as though most of the
gold-dust must be blown away ; but the wise man
knows that the East has its immemorial customs,
and any one conversant with it is aware that they
are as unchangeable as all the laws of the Medes
and Persians put together.

128 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

The mining industry at Sorghack is said not to be
what it was, though whether this piece of informa-
tion was thrown in for our benefit or not I am
unable to say.

Another good working had been in use for some
little time. This is situated to the south, one
march farther into the mountains, and rejoices in
the euphonious name of Choongsai-shamalluck.

After quitting Sorghack, we turned east along
the lower slopes of the Kuen Lun. The general
character of the country alternates between rolling
sandy downs and open moorland covered with a
kind of wUd thyme, ^ich the animals eat greedUy.

A considerable number of shepherds live a more
or less wandering existence, having the care of
hundreds of sheep, the property of well-to-do men
at Kiria, Niya, or Cherchen. To the south of the
track we followed, at a distance of only two or three
miles, the snow-capped ridges of the lower main
ranges could be seen. From the Kuen Lun descend
at frequent intervals numerous mountain streams
and small rivers. These afford one of the most
striking physical features of this district.

The ten days' march from Sorghack to Kopa was
by no means the least pleasant part of our journey.
Although villages are not to be found along the
track, there are a few hamlets of which Kara-sai,
on a small stream of the same name, is the most
important.

At the time of the year we found ourselves trav-
ersing this district no climate could have been more
pleasant. In Eastern Turkestan one of the chief
physical features is the dryness of the atmosphere,

A TURKESTAN BOLE. 129

and how exhilarating this feeling is travellers to
Egypt know well. Though we sometimes made
use of mud huts, or even the cave-dwellings of the
shepherds, our nights were for the most part spent
in camp. Water being as always the difficulty, our
tents were almost invariably pitched in the bed of
one of the torrent gorges previously described. The
general elevation of the route followed is between
7000 and 9000 feet above sea-level ; but after the
previous weeks spent on the Tibetan plateaux, the
temperatiure never troubled us. Far more minor
inconvenience was caused by the difficulty experi-
enced in arriving at any approximate English equiv-
alent in distance for that in use among the Turkis.
A potai is the common unit of road measurement in
these parts, and, as usual in the East, it varies
according to the nature of the country over which
the traveller is passmg. For purposes of calculation
it may be reckoned at between two-and-a-quarter and
two-and-a-half miles; but we found yet another
factor of variation, and that lay in whether the
number of potai was given for mounted men riding
ponies, or for the slow-moving ass or camel. Though
it is true that no self-respecting Turki ever walks if
it can possibly be avoided, not many of the country
folk can affi)rd ponies. The use of these is confined
more or less to the comparatively wealthy, such as
the headmen or Begs, but it is a very poor house-
hold which cannot produce one or more donkeys.

Along the base of the Euen Lun range animal
life, so far as game is concerned, is conspicuous by
its absence. A few small hares represented all that
we saw, nor are birds any more common.

130 IN THE FO0T8TKP8 OF MABCO POLO.

The shepherd's life is no easy one, though to these
hardy specimens it has prohably a charm of its own.
As an example of the value of money in such out-of-
the-way parts, it may be mentioned that the daily
wage for which a man will do some work for another
is four pice (Indian money) a-day. That of the
shepherds is not very much more handsome. On
account of a year's work they receive thirty tengeh
(wages, about Us. 7), also a sheepskin coat, which
they probably renew as often as they require finom
the flocks under their charga

From the sources of the various streams which
drain the snow-water from the Kuen Lun, there are
one or two possible passes into Tibet. At what
seasons these are available only the local shepherds
know ; and, like the man in the story, they are not
always anxious to telL

As the caravan approached Kopa, the track fol-
lowed ran into broken rugged hills and gullies of a
very wild character. Old gold-pockets, all worked
out, line the so-called path. Immediately before
reaching Kopa, the latter crosses a desolate rocky
stretch of ground which no self-respecting pack
animal would negotiate for choice, but this is the
only approach from the west. Kopa itself is a
more sordid edition of Sorghack, and consists of
some fifty to sixty underground hovels, built of
stones and mud, with a few of slightly more civilised
calibre. We were offered and accepted the guest-
house, a somewhat high-sounding title for a mud-
hut, which is occupied by any minor Chinese oflScial
when ill-fate compels him to include Kopa in a tour
of inspection from Cherchen.

A CULINABY COMEDY. 131

The gold industry here we were informed was not
doing well, and if appearances go for anything in
this world, I can readily believe it. The previous
Beg was said to have driven many people away
owing to his bad treatment. Not only would he
not pay them fairly for their gold, but his greed for
" pickings " prevented his ever providing suflScient
food for those whose luck at the mining was out.

From Kopa there are again two tracks to
Cherchen. The most direct one traverses a practi-
cally waterless strip of desert, and can only be used
by camels or by mounted men able to carry what
little they require, and capable of riding through in
from forty-eight to fifty-six hours. Even then it is
necessary to ride by night as well as by day, and
such a journey was out of the question with as large
a caravan as we still owned.

The night after leaving Kopa an amusing inci-
dent happened by which we lost our evening meal,
and that on a night too when it was particularly
required. A long and tiring march of twenty-one
miles had occupied the caravan from 7 A. M. to 5 p.m.
The usual diflBculty of reaching water had some-
what lengthened the day. At last we spied a few
shepherds' hovels, and the long promised water
appeared in the shape of a small torrent bed.
Overlooking the latter were two caves dug out
of the hillside, and to save pitching the tents we
settled to sleep in them. It was too late on
arrival, and the men too tired, to do much cook-
ing, so we gave them a sheep and contented our-
selves with a cold meal, save for an army ration
which we put in front of the fire to warm. On

132 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

the sandy floor of the low cave we spread our
valises and began to make preparations for a snug
night. Fuel in unusual quantity had been col-
lected for us, which, with a good fireplace and a
natural chimney, made a roaring fire inside the
cave. This perhaps accounted for the mishap
which followed. Reclining as near the crackling
heap of red-hot roots as a continual shower of
sparks would allow, we were lazily speculating
upon the contents of the ration tin, whether lentils,
pea, or other variety of condensed soup, when a
loud, explosion sent us both rolling over backwards.
In the first moment it was diflScult to collect one's
thoughts, and visions of a cartridge having acci-
dentally dropped into the fire flashed through my
mind as I shouted to my companion to ask if he
was hurt. An answer in the negative was reassur-
ing, and as soon as we recovered our wits suflBciently
to laugh we began to look first for the tin, then
for its contents. Strange as it may sound, not a
vestige of either could be found ; and to this day
it remains a mystery why the lentils or baked
beans, not to mention the tin, did not plaster us
from head to foot.

Our explosion occurred at Tak Bai, by which
name the few cave -dwellings are known to the
natives. They have chosen a picturesque spot of
which, unfortunately, no photograph was taken.
We were fated to have many less comfortable camps
than the shepherds' caves.

Getting away as usual by starlight in the morn-
ing, a view of some exquisite colouring just before
the sun rose was our reward. On two sides the

ACHSN. 133

lower hills wore a greyish tinge. Behind them,
clear cut and black in the coming light, rose the
higher snow-dad ranges. To the north stretched
the sat, only half visible owing to the haze, and
even its bare ugliness softened by a purple glow
the reflection of the rising sun. Eastwards, above
what at such a distance appeared to be a low ridge,
every shade of rose colour, saffron, and pale orange,
formed a feast of delicate colour from the midst
of which rose the sun itself. A march of twenty-
six miles, which our caravan took just over twelve
hours to accomplish, brought us to Achen, from
whence a waterless stretch of desert and sai^ seventy
miles across, has to be faced to reach Cherchen.
Achen consists of only three or four shepherds'
hovels, although honoured with a place on European
maps. We had hoped to make some preparations
there to help to cross the strip of waterless country
referred to. But all that could be done was to
arrange to send a mounted man ahead to Cherchen,
asking that fodder and water should be sent out
from there to meet us. This done, we made
our own plans accordingly, congratulating our-
selves upon having been able to secure a native
who would undertake the task. It was arranged
to make a short march of ten or twelve miles
the first day, and to carry ice for that night's
supply. At the end of the second day's march,
which it was intended should be double the dis-
tance if the animals would stand it, we hoped to
find the Cherchen supplies. With them there
would be no question but that the town itself
could be reached on the third day.

134 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

It was not without some misgivings that we had
drawn up our plans, owing to the fact that our
caravan bashi had long proved himself useless where
any "bundobust" had to be made. At the same
time we were obliged to trust him to some extent, as
he was our only means of communication with the
native Turkia Himself an Arghun, or half-breed,
he was acquainted with the local dialect, while
between him and ourselves Hindustani was the
only medium of conversation.

Arrived at the end of the first day's march
over a sandy scrub country, the ice we had
brought sufficed to give each of the animals a few
mouthftils of water. Mindful of the chance that
our Cherchen envoy might not be so certain to
carry out our arrangements as Rahim, our caravan
hash% assured us he would be, a little of the ice
was held in reserve.

Up at 3 A.M. for the second day's march our
route continued over the same sandy waste, diver-
sified only by low ridges and what appeared to
be dry water-courses. After twenty miles of this,
the heavy going began to tell upon the animals,
and it was time, we thought, to discover some traces
of the Cherchen people, who, as we supposed, were
waiting our approach. About 2 p.m., after nearly
twelve hours' marching, Rabim was sent forward in
hopes of finding them. After another two hours it
became evident that if we did not call a halt, nature
would very soon do so, for some of the weaker
ponies were played out. We struggled slowly
forward, however, until thirty miles had been ac-
complished, when, as there were no signs of any

A WASTE OF SAND-DUNES. 135

supplies, we were forced to camp. Without water,
save for about one quart apiece from the reserve,
fuel, or food, the ponies that night were in a bad
way. Besides the ice, we had kept a few handfuls
of bhoosa in case of what did occur happening, so
that they got enough to keep them on their legs.
Our lo(»J guide insisted that we could reach
Cherchen by 2 p.m. the following day, and that
being so we knew that we could always rest a
day and recoup the animals for the extra exertion.

The third day's march began somewhat badly,
for the pack ponies were mostly disinclined to
move, and evidently seriously in want of water.
To make matters worse, our track led at first
over a waste of sand-dunes devoid of any sign of
vegetation, across which we ploughed through loose
sand over the animals' fetlocks, rising and falling
over sand waves of equally loose foundation, fiifteen
to twenty feet in height. Fortunately this strip
only lasted a few miles, giving way to a more open
and firmer plain where gravel began to take the
place of the heavy sand.

After covering fift;een miles, we saw what in the
distance looked like a running stream, and knowing
that we must be somewhere in the vicinity of the
Cherchen river, our spirits rose. Another mile
enabled us to make out the stream to be a reality,
and on the banks of it we could see through our
glasses both men and ponies. Here at last were
the long-wished-for supplies, and once again the
load of suspense and apprehension was lifted from
our minds. Trotting ahead of the caravan, I soon
approached the stream, which turned out to be a

136 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

brook, known locally as the Yelgun river. Beside
it the Beg of Cherchen and some Indian traders,
who were then passing through Cherchen, and had
heard of our approach, were waiting to welcome
us, having brought with them the usual offering
of fruit, tea, and other delicacies. Having greeted
the Beg and the merchants with whom I could
converse, I inquired if our mounted forerunner
had ever reached Cherchen, and was informed that
he had, but that our request had not been under-
stood. I was about to ask the chief merchant for
some explanation, and to endeavour to arrive at
the reason for such unusual neglect of the laws of
hospitality in the East, when the approach of the
caravan prevented any further inquiry. Not half
an hoiu* previously I had left a miserable train of
animals, tired of life, and unable to take the
slightest interest in the day's proceedings. Ap-
proaching, I saw a very different sight. At a
distance of some hundreds of yards the ponies
smelt the water, and before we could stop them,
regardless of yakdans, loads, or tent -poles, they
made for it at a run. It was useless to attempt
to control a score of loose animals, so we made no
effort to do so, and into the stream they dashed,
sousing their muzzles over their nostrils to drink
again and again.

While our animals were quenching their three
days* thirst, we were not sorry to attack the
luscious fruit our hosts had provided. The whole
caravan was once more on good terms with itself,
so cheerfully we rode the last five miles into
Cherchen, improving the opportunity by conversa-

AN UNFRIENDLT AK8AKAL. * 137

tion with the leader of the merchants. After
enlightening us as to his own affairs and those
of the company — eight in all — who travelled with
him, he accounted to us for the non-arrival of our
supplies from Cherchen. From the story he told
it appeared that our messenger had arrived, and
that the Amban had been made acquainted with
our wants. No reproach could be attached to
this Chinese official, who in the course of the
usual routine gave orders to one of the aksakals^
or headmen, to make the necessary arrangements
to meet our request, also those required to prepare
for our arrival. Now the aksakcU happened, un-
fortunately, and as is not often the case, to be an
Andijani, a Russian subject, who was unlikely to
bestir himself on behalf of those who did not owe
allegiance to his master the Czar, more especially
when they appeared to drop from the clouds, and
those clouds which hovered on the Tibet border.
Whatever the aksakoTs reasons may have been,
the trader's story afterwards received confirmation.
When on reaching Cherchen we had been shown
the farmstead set aside for our accommodation,
our men found that no preparations whatever had
been made to collect food or fodder for the ponies.
In every oasis so far, nothing had been left undone
that could tend to increase the comfort of either
the men, our animals, or ourselves, and although,
except at Kiria, we invariably paid well, the
attention was none the less acceptable.

Great was the disgust of our following at the
reception now accorded, so a messenger was forth-
with despatched to report the aksakal to the

138 IN TH£ FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

Amban. The latter himself soon appeared, and
roundly abusing the aksakal before the assembled
crowd for his want of manners, soon restored to
our own followers their temporary loss of " face."

The house itself was of the same type as those
already described at Polu. It had a spacious court-
yard, half open, some forty feet square, which,
furnished by the Amban's orders with felts and
rugs, was most comfortable. The Amban himself,
whose photograph adorns one of our pages, was
a cheerful old gentleman, a native of Hunan pro-
vince. In addition to the felts and rugs, he sent
us two camp-stools, which made a most agreeable
change from always sitting on the ground ; he also
ordered for us a native piUau for the evening meal.
One of the chief pleasures we enjoyed on reaching
any of the oases was that it offered the chance for
a real good bath and a complete change. The sand
and dust anywhere in the vicinity of the desert is
all-embracing, and in a few days thickly covers
one's hair, beard, and clothes.

Cherchen is the Charchan of Marco Polo, and
is described by that wonderful traveller as "a
province of Great Turkey, lying between north-
west and east. The people worship Mahommet.
There are numerous towns and villages, and the
chief city of the kingdom bears its name, Charchan."
It was towards the end of the thirteenth century
that the Venetian had visited Cherchen, in the
course of the memorable journey throughout which
as a young man he accompanied his uncles from
Europe to the Court of Kublai Khan near Peking.
Starting from Acre in Palestine, the trio passed

THE VERACITY OF MARCO POLO. 139

through Persia to the Gulf. Whatever the original
intention of the travellers had been, at Hormuz, in
the Gulf, they changed their plans. Retracing
their steps, they passed north through Persia once
more to Khorassan, and from there to Balkh in
Afghanistan. From Balkh they made their way
along the present northern border of Afghanistan
to Badakshan and the Pamirs, whence they struck
down on Chinese Turkestan at Kashgar. After
quitting that even then important trade centre,
Marco Polo and his two companions threaded
their way through the series of oases I have en-
deavoured to describe, passing Khotan, Kiria —
though probably north of the present site, — Niya,
and Cherchen, to reach Chakalik in the vicinity
of Lopnor.

In the present century, just six hundred years
later, we are now beginning to inquire where all
these '^nmnerous towns and villages" are, for
Marco Polo has long been proved to be a truthful
man : and we find, as Dr Stein and others have
shown, and are even now continuing to prove, that
they have almost all succumbed to the slow but
remorseless attacks of the desert sands. Whether
these latter will be foimd to cover the buried
treasures Egypt and Persia have yielded remains
to be seen, and is unlikely, but it may with con-
fidence be said that they have yet to disgorge a
wealth of historical and perhaps ethnological re-
mains to the intelligent explorer with time, energy,
and the means to give to such an enticing task.

The Cherchen of to-day is a mean place of one
rambling street, 180 yards in length, on either side

140 IK THB FOOTSTEPS OF HABOO POLO.

of which are a few wretched shops which represent
the usual Asiatic bazar. The bazar is not roofed,
and the inhabitants look poorer and more unkempt
than those of any of the oases we had traversed.
In extent the Cherchen oasis is the largest yet
seen, having an area some six miles fix)m north
to south by two-and-a-half fix)m east to west.

The town is situated close to the left bank of the
Cherchen Darya, which is the most considerable
stream met with since we quitted India. At the
point where it passes the town it has a bed about
160 yards in width, with a swift stream 30 feet
across, and in places 3 to 4 feet deep. When
crossed by us, on leaving Cherchen, immediately
above the town the river ran in five channels.
The average width of these was 20 to 25 feet, and
their depth 18 inches. In the spring the river
usually overflows, filling some low-lying land north
of the village. Some doubt appears to exist as to
the exact site of old Cherchen. We were informed
locally that it once stood at a distance of seven
miles to the north - east, but there are numerous
remains close to the town on the west, under two
miles away.

It may be of some interest in enabling the reader
to form an idea of the size and importance, or the
reverse, of such a place as Cherchen, if a few details
are given concerning its taxable revenue and its
supplies. And although in doing so reference
must be made to the typically Chinese habits of
our friend the Amban, he will no doubt bear no
ill-feeling.

Included in the oasis of Cherchen are 150 farms

A MAGISTRATE MUST LIVE. 141

and houses of a kind. The inhabitants of these
own collectively some 100 ponies and 3000 sheep
and goats. Eight thousand tengeh (4 teitgeh roughly
= 1 rupee) is the amount of annual tax on the
Cherchen land revenue. Four thousand tengeh
in addition are paid by the wandering shepherds
of the district. In addition to both the above
taxes, two tengeh out of every ten tengeKs worth
of goods sold in the market on bazar days is
taken as extra squeeze. Incredible as such a tax
may sound, there is, I regret to say, no doubt
whatever as to its being a fact. That it was the
private perquisite of our friend of the camp-stools
may, I am afraid, be taken for granted. After
all, even a Chinese magistrate in far Turkestan
must live.

At Cherchen the presence of the Indian traders
already mentioned enabled us to increase consider-
ably our knowledge of local ways and customs.

The Indian traders are naturally in greatest force
at Eashgar and in the neighbourhood of Yarkand,
though they have also settled at Kuchar. The
party we met had been for ten or twelve years in
the habit of visiting the chief centres of Chinese
Turkestan, spending alternate years there and in
India. From their appearance and the information
they gave they appeared to be men of substance and
responsible merchants ; at the same time they com-
plained of the drawbacks incidental to the at-
tempt to trade in a country where Russian influence
has hitherto been predominant. Supported by the
position rightly allowed by Kussia to the Consul-
General who ably represents his country's interests

142 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

at Kashgar, the Andijani traders are not afraid to
place whatever obstacle they can, legitimate or
otherwise, in the path of their Indian opponents.
From the complaints made by the chief of the
Pathan merchants, I gathered that one of the chief
diflficulties they had to contend with was lack of
transport. He affirmed that to hire it anywhere
was almost an impossibility. The merchants are
therefore obliged to own and maintain an expensive
caravan of good animals, which, so long as things
go well, he allowed, is no hindrance to the profit
of their venture. When, however, luck is against
them, and the hardships of the road are too much
for their animals, to hire is out of the question,
so serious delay and consequent money loss are
the inevitable result.

Whether Chinese influence is against Indian
traders is a question not easily answered. On the
particular portion of the route these men use,
which we followed, they are probably welcome.
The goods they supply, such as cloth of a superior
class, turbans, Indian tea, pepper, and embroidery
for the well-to-do Turki families, constitute luxuries,
and are not obtainable by the officials and richer
inhabitants except from the Indian traders. At
other centres, when the goods they offer come into
competition with those of the Chinese vendors, there
is little doubt of the result. Any one acquainted
with the latter class is fully aware that they would
not scruple to make free use of local influence to the
undoing of the Indian trader.

One other point of interest concerning British
(Indian) trade with Central Asia is worthy of

BUBSIAX ESnOXAGB. 14S

mention, and it refers to the qaestion of pasB-
porta

It was said by the chief of the Indian traders
that they either did not or could not obtain from
the British authorities passports which were of
equal use to those supplied to the Russian subjects.
The impression I gathered was that the fault was
rather their own, but of this I cannot speak posi-
tively, though the matter is not without interest*
The Andijani colony at Cherchen is a fairly large
one, consisting of seven families who came from
the neighbourhood of Bokhara, all, of course, being
Russian subjects. Ostensibly these Andijanis are
farmers, though some, as is more usually the case
with them, deal in merchandise. One or two are
said to return each year to Russian Turkestan in
order to purchase fresh goods. It was probably
only a coincidence which caused them to put about
the usual story of the intended return of two of
their number as soon as our arrival was known
of at Cherchen. It may also have been mere co-
incidence that the two should have left Cherchen
before we did, but exactly in the opposite direction.
It is hardly necessary to remark that the intelli-
gence arrangements must be very complete which
enable the Consul-General of a Power— and that
not Chinese — at Kashgar to obtain in so short a
time after their arrival, at such an out-of-the-way
spot as is Cherchen, full particulars of European
travellers at first hand

Interest in the latter town might at first seem
inexplicable, but not when it is stated that one of
the very few known accessible routes which lead

144 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

from Chinese Turkestan into Tibet is approached
up the Cherchen river.

Before quitting the town we had the pleasure of
receiving another visit from the Amban. This time
closer acquaintance with us caused him to be much
more at his ease. He had previously sent a wel-
come present of a duck, two chickens, and a sheep,
with some vegetables, to which he now added the
camp-stools. Not wishing to be outdone, yet some-
what put to it to produce anything unfamiliar to
him from our scanty stores, we finally fell back
upon the old plan dear to London cabmen, and
"left it to him." Having inspected most of our
belongings, he appeared much pleased with some
wax matches ; also, when their use had been ex-
plained, with some Indian cigars which we were
treasiu'ing for Christmas. Here, then, was a cue,
so we hastened to seize it, laying both matches
and a cigar figuratively at his feet. In addition
to these treasures, we added a folding camp-chair
which had been bought in an extravagant moment
at Srinagar; and though this was about the first
time we had ever succeeded in putting it together,
chiefly owing to what the advertisement of its sale
described as its capacity for shutting up, — especially
when not required to, — it quite won the Amban's
heart.

145

CHAPTER VIII.

LOU-LAN — TWO DESCRIPTIONS OP 77 B.C. AND 1900 A.D. — THE LOPNOB
CONTROVERSY — MARCO POLO'S DESCRIPTION OF THE DESERT —
SVBN HBDIN'S DISCOVERIES — A BEWILDERING JUNGLE TRACK —
GIGANTIC TREES— CHANGING WATERWAYS — AN OCEAN OF SAND —
THE CONQUEiiT OF TORRENTS BY SAND — THE VALUE OF A DEAD
PONY— A PONY IN A CORN PIT— A WANDERING SPORTSMAN — BRITISH
BOOTS IN FASHION AT LHASA — THE OASIS OF CHAKALIK — AN AGED
AMBAN — A PRESENT OF DOVER POWDERS.

Before proceeding with the details of our march
after leaving Cherchen, such historical facts as
are available of the region about to be traversed
are due to the reader. Without some slight know-
ledge of the past it might seem, from the descrip-
tion which follows, to have been a mere waste of
time to penetrate such a country. But enough
has already been said to account for the wish to
do so. Early Chinese records furnish conclusive
proof of a flourishing state of civilisation in the
Lop district as far back as the commencement of
the Christian era, and these records are continued,
through the accounts of various Buddhist pilgrims
and later travellers, up to about the seventh cen-
tury. At the beginning of the eighth century the
Mohammedan invasion swept into Eastern Turk-
estan, submerging temporarily the Chinese power.
Until Marco Polo, 1295 A.D., so to speak, refound

146 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

the southern route to China — i.e., that vid Khotan,
Kiria, and Lopnor — little is known of it from
European sources. Two centuries later we have
more authentic records in the story of the well-
known embassy which Shah Bukh sent from his
capital, Herat, in 1419 A.D., to the court of China.
Though the embassy reached that country by the
northern route, through Eastern Turkestan, passing
from Tash-kendt in Russian Turkestan vid the Hi
river to the town now called Hami, it was obliged,
owing to local disturbances, to make the return
journey by the southern or Lopnor route to Khotan,
Kashgar, and Herat. Even before this period,
owing to the lawless character of such inhabitants
as there were, as well as to the steady advance
of the dreaded sands, which were gradually reduc-
ing the whole district to one vast desert, the
southern route had ceased to be a highway.

Such evidence as we can now produce enables
us to believe these past records, which otherwise
the evidence of one's own eyes would most imhesi-
tatingly discredit.

A most interesting account of Lou-Ian, which is
marked on the map as lying north-east of the Lop
country and south of the Kuruk-tag, has been
given from Chinese translations by Mr George
Macartney, the British representative at Kashgar.
The site of this ancient kingdom, known to the
Chinese as Shen-shen, was explored by Sven Hedin
during the course of his last journey to Lopnor.
A comparison of the account of that district in
77 B.C., given by Mr Macartney, and of that given
by Sven Hedin of the sand -swept desert he ex-

LOU-LAN. 147

plored, under which the same district lay in 1900,
is fuU of interest to any inquirer into the past
of this wonderful country.

"At the epoch these chronicles were written,"
says Mr Macartney, "about the birth of Christ,
the kingdom of Shen-shen, we are told, contained
1570 families, forming a population of 14,100
people, with 2192 trained troops.

"The land is sandy and salt, and there are few
cultivated fields. The country relies on the neigh-
bouring kingdom for cereals and agricultural
products. The country produces jade, abundance
of rushes, the tamaria, the Cloecocca vermicifera,
and white grasa The people remove their cattle
for pasturage whenever they can find sufficiency of
water and herbage. They have asses, horses, and
camels. They can fabricate military weapons"

And now let us compare Sven Hedin's descrip-
tion of Lou -Ian, standing on the same spot some
2000 years later: —

" The view was broad and open, and altogether
sui generis. The desert presented a imiform dreary
aspect, with its sharp -edged broken terraces and
'tables' — yardangs of yellow clay. At intervab
stood a house, more or less mutilated by time : but
the entire region was uninhabited except for myself
and my dog."

I have said that the site of Lou-Ian lies north-
east of Lopnor, and have unintentionally introduced
what is known as the Lopnor controversy. The
actual site of the lake has, for years past, been a
matter of discussion between such well-known ex-
plorers as the late Colonel Prjevalsky, Sven Hedin,

148 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

Baron Bichthofen, Pievtsoff, and Kozloff, to mention
only the chief authorities.

The point at issue is whether the spot now
marked in most European maps as Lopnor is the
rightful position, or whether the true site was not
a more northerly one, as marked in Sven Hedin's
map, close to Lou -Ian. Scientifically the ques-
tion is of no small importance : to readers of this
chapter it is only so on account of a seemingly
curious omission on the part of Marco Polo, the
earliest European authority upon this region, to
make any mention of the lake at all. Of a town
he calls Lop he speaks in the following terms : —

" Lop is a large town at the edge of the desert,
which is called the desert of Lop, and is situated
between east and north-east. It belongs to the
great Khan, and the people worship Mahomet.
Now such persons as propose to cross the desert
take a week's rest in this town to refresh them-
selves and their cattle ; and then they make ready
for the journey, taking with them a month's supply
for man and best. On quitting this city they enter
the desert. The length of this desert is so great
that, 'tis said, it would take a year and more to
ride from one end of it to the other. And here,
where its breadth is least, it takes a month to
cross it. Tis all composed of hills and valleys
of sand, and not a thing to eat is to be found
on it. . . . Beasts there are none, for there is
nought for them to eat. But there is a marvel-
lous thing related of this desert, which is, that
when travellers are on the move by night, and one
of them chances to lag behind or to fall asleep or

(( firm:« a^<rT^T-rv ^-n ^^-^r^^r^ »

THE SOUND OF DRUMa 149

the like, when he tries to gain his company again
he will hear spirits talking, and will suppose them
to be his comrades. Sometimes the spirits will call
him by name : and thus shall a traveller ofltimes
be led astray, so that he never finds his party.
And in this way many have perished. Sometimes
the stray travellers will hear, as it were, the tramp
and hum of a great cavalcade of people away fix)m
the real line of the road, and, taking this to be
their own company, they will follow the sound;
and when day breaks they find that a cheat has
been put on them, and that they are in an ill
plight. . . . And sometimes you shall hear the
sound of a variety of musical instruments, and still
more commonly the sound of druma" " So thus it
is," he ends, " that the desert is crossed."

The desert referred to by Marco Polo was known
to the Chinese of ancient days as Liu-sha = shifting
sands. The explanation of his omission to mention
the lake of Lop is the simple one, that he never
saw it. M. Henri Cordier, in his very interesting
revision of Sir Henry Yule's book of Sieur Marco
Polo, has pointed this out. " From Cherchen,"
writes M. Cordier, referring to Marco Polo, "he
followed, I believe, neither Prjevalsky's nor Pievt-
sofTs route, but the old route from Khotan to
Si-ngan-fu, in the old bed of the Cherchen Daria,
above and almost parallel to the new bed, to the
Tarim, then between Sven Hedin's and Prjevalsky's
lakes (Lopnor), and across the desert to Sacbu to
join the ancient Chinese road of the Han dynasty,
partly explored by M. Bonin from Sachu." Here,
then, is the natural and, in this light, simple ex-

150 m THE FOOTSTEPS OP MARCO POLO.

planation why Marco Polo omitted any reference
to the lake. I may add that it was our good
fortune to see this ancient bed of the Cherchen
Darya, near the town of that name, and later on
to find, and for some distance to follow, the eastern
end of the ancient desert highway. This was when
we had nearly succeeded in crossing the Kum Tag,
the present name of the desert on European maps,
but to this reference will be made hereafter.

Having endeavoured to indicate briefly the chief
facts connected with the history of the Lop country,
let us now return to follow the fortunes of our
own slender caravan as it commenced, not without
some trepidation, to enter that desolate stretch of
country abhorred of Marco Polo.

From Cherchen we decided to follow the right
bank of the river : first, because Sven Hedin, one
of the few Europeans who had attempted to pass
that way, had there discovered some graves of a
type other than Mohammedan; and secondly,
because local information stated it was the best
track for ponies.

Of the graves, or any knowledge of them, our
local guides pretended ignorance. The interest
connected with these remains lies in the fact that,
according to Sven Hedin, the coffins contained the
mummified bodies of non - Chinese or Mongolian
people. He assumes that they were probably the
remains of a set who went by the name of
" Raskolnikis," or Nonconformists, a few of whom
are said by him to have migrated from Siberia
to this far country, perhaps in search of religious
freedom.

A JUNOLE PATH. 151

After crossing the Cherchen river to the right
bank, we turned our footsteps north-east to follow
its course half-way to Chakalik; and the entire
change in the character of the country through
which we marched was not unwelcome.

The track itself was a mere jungle path eighteen
inches wide, and ran alternately through high reeds,
belts of scrub jungle, with tograck forest, mostly
dead» or over flat open marshland.

To us the chief delight was in the unlimited fuel
and the freedom from any care as to the presence of
water or grazing. The latter waa furnished by a
small dried reed, not unlike bamboo grass, which
the animals eat readily.

We had been assured by local sportsmen at
Cherchen that ample game was to be found be-
tween that place and Chakalik. On the strength
of their stories we had engaged two shikarris, but,
except as guides, found them of little use. Had
our Cherchen friends told of numerous tracks of
game, they would have been well within the truth,
for those of both pig and deer ran all through
the jungle, but of game itself we saw very little.
A few specimens of Prjevalsky's gazelle rewarded
us for a good deal of rough riding, but pig or marol
we were never able to bag. Alongside the river
in many parts it was only possible to push through
the dried reeds, mounted, by following the tracks
the wild boar had made. The reeds were fre-
quently as high as the head of a mounted man,
and the track just sufficiently broad and winding
to allow of our advancing in single file. Much
as we wished for the sight of a boar, the thought

152 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

haa more than once occurred since, that perhaps
the reality of the meeting might not have been
all that fancy painted it at the time. To attempt
to leave the track, or even to turn round in many
places, was an impossibility, owing to the dense
growth ; to see five yards ahead was quite out of
the question. Under such conditions, to attempt
to dispute the right-of-way with an old boar,
armed too with only a sporting .303, and mounted,
appears on reflection to be too great odds on the
boar.

During this part of its course the Cherchen river
winds considerably. At times during the day the
track would run along the top of its low bank ; at
others we found ourselves cut ofi* from the river by
a mile or two of almost impenetrable jungle.

The nightly camp was usually made as near
the river as possible, and sometimes it was our
good fortune to hit on very pleasant and pretty
spots. It was always our custom to halt one
day in the seven in order that men and animals
should enjoy a well-earned rest ; and as luck would
have it we found ourselves amid pleasant sur-
roundings the day the weekly halt was due. Kola-
lenger was the name of our camp, though how a
name is always forthcoming when asked for, at
no matter what spot in the midst of the jungle,
I could never ascertain. No doubt certain districts
have regular names given by the shepherds who
there graze their flocks at different times of the
year. Of these, most are obtained from natural
causes, or from some incident long remembered
in local lore. In the former category was the

OIANT TREES. 153

name of another of our camps a few nights back.
Kengleika means, in local dialect, 'Hhe broad in-
tmdated track," and the reason for the name was
obvious, though we found the district fairly dry.
Near Kola-lenger the Cherchen has a bed of sixty
yards width, but the running water narrows to
twenty-five to thirty feet, which here flows tmder
the right bank. On November 27 the stream was
full of floating ice, and quite a small block would
have sufficed to cause a jam and the consequent
freezing over of the river. On the left bank of the
river the sand-hills of the desert approach close to
the water, and rise to a height of some thirty feet
in places. One of the features of the forest belts
is the extraordinary size of some of the dead
trees. Veritable giants they must once have been ;
and nothing so clearly indicates the direction
and presence of ancient river-beds as do these
heroes of bygone days. Local tradition pretends
that the life of one of these trees denotes the
flight of time in a ratio of a thousand years to
grow, a thousand to live, and a thousand more to
die ; and without subscribing fully to this some-
what oriental description of the life of a tograch^
no doubt they should help to determine when the
channels which once gave them life ceased to hold
water. I measured one of the largest trees and
found it to be 211 inches in circumference (17 feet
7 inches). Some idea of the size was gathered from
the relatively diminutive appearance of the shi-
karri and pony. A most weird effect these ancient
giants have in the moonlight, and sitting round
the camp-fire one could not help pondering upon

154 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

the past centuries through which they had blos-
somed and lived, and of the strange hordes they
may have sheltered, — Huns, Tartars, Mongols, all
I0.4 ago vanished.

Another feature of the right bank of the Cher-
chen river was the number of ancient river-beds
we crossed. One we camped in had a depth of
fix)m fifteen to twenty feet, and a width of from
ninety to a hundred and twenty feet. That the
Cherchen, which continues to flow, had in times
past so often changed its channel is a point of
great interest, for after -experience proved to us
that the marshes and lake-beds of the whole of
this region have undoubtedly done, and are doing,
the same. The interest connected with this fact
is chiefly based on the effiect it may have in
throwing additional light upon the yet imsettled
problem of the situation of Lopnor itself.

In view of the scientific interest involved in the
question of the inconstancy of all water - channels
in this vast basin, I will quote another case.
About latitude 94° E. on the Chinese side of the
Kum Tag desert, we explored a wide expanse of
lagoon and lake, known on our maps as Kara Nor.
Here all the signs necessary to substantiate the
inconstancy of such areas are very clearly marked.
No two people who have examined Kara Nor and
its ramifications would disagree in saying that
both in area, depth, and actual position, it never,
for any length of time, remains constant. I ven-
ture to think no one who has seen that district,
and is acquainted with the minute proofs to which
Sven Hedin has put his theory, will again den)^

REED HUTS. 155

that not only Lopnor, but the whole Kara Koshun
basin, wherever small lagoons and depressions
exist, is in the same state.

Here and there on the banks of the Cherchen
reed huts or satma are found, which are made use
of by the shepherds during the spring and autumn.
From May to September insects render life unbear-
able near the river, and then both men and becusts
are driven away from its vicinity. The shepherds
remain in this district until the snow falls in
December, when they move nearer to Cherchen.
We sometimes came upon open spaces alongside
the river where the reeds had been burnt. This
is done for the grazing, not for cultivation. As
we moved up the river it was not always possible
to camp on the banks of it. It was then necessary
to use the water in the ponds, which was usually
more or less tainted, sometimes salt, but more
frequently brackish, with an unpleasant smell
from the decaying reed-roots.

On the eighth day after leaving Cherchen we
turned our backs to the river, and struck a course
shghtly south of east, in order to reach Chakalik.
As soon as the vicinity of the river was left behind,
the surrounding country again became heavy sand.
It was here that we first became acquainted with
the curious root -heaps, which afterwards form a
familiar figure in the landscape. On the edge of
the forest - belts huge sandy mounds eighteen to
twenty feet high are to be seen, which contain
dead roots and decayed branches of trees. How
the roots come to be laid bare and the mounds
erected, it is not easy to say. Erected, strictly

156 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

speaking, they are not, for their extraordinary
appearance can only be the result of denudation
by the action of the wind. Bound these gigantic
heaps the track wound, to emerge at intervals on
to undulating sand-hills, where the dunes were
the highest yet met with. Sometimes skirting,
sometimes climbing these, rising and falling every
few score yards, our animals soon began to feel
the change for the worse. The biggest dunes
are miniature cliffs, occasionally as much as forty
feet high. Very striking, indeed, is the appearance
of these larger conformations. Another sample of
this sand country had to be crossed the same
afternoon, which only differed from the last in
being even more trying to the caravan.

Having traversed one of the many belts of
decayed forest, the track emerged by a gentle
ascent of 100 feet on to what had all the ap-
pearance of a sea of loose sand. The effect was
that of the ocean in a calm, but with a heavy
swell on. The dunes and miniature cliffs now
gave place to smooth glacis - like slopes, half to
three-quarters of a mile in extent. Except on
the exposed ridges, where the sand was partially
frozen, the going was very heavy. During the
daytime, at this season, the prevailing wind was
from the north - east. It rose with gentle regu-
larity about 9.30 a.m., but gradually increased in
force, until it died away with equal punctuality
about 5 P.M. As a rule the nights were calm
and very clear.

We passed, this day, a curious reminder of the
sovereign power, in the shape of a small well-kept

SAND VERSUS WATER 157

wattle hut. It stands empty, apropos to nothing
at all, and is surrounded by a neat moat. Inside
the hut is a wooden board on two stout posts,
with an inscription graven on it in both Chinese
and Turki characters. This states that the hut
is the boundary between the Cherchen and
Chakalik administrative districts, though to
whom, except to the wild animals, the subject
can be of any interest, only those who pay for
the upkeep of the hut know. In a way, too, it
is characteristic of the Chinese love for outward
effect, for to maintain even this sign of external
power in such an out-of-the-way spot, serves to
remind the few Turki who pass that Chinese
administration is a fact as well as a name.

Half-way between the river and Chakalik we
camped on the banks of a small stream, then
quite dry, which suffices to afford a few acres
of cultivation to some wild-looking natives. The
miserable collection of huts rejoices in the name
of Vash Shar.

The river-bed varies from fifty to one hundred
and twenty yards in breadth, and so far as could
be judged in its then state it never succeeds in
reaching the Cherchen river.

Although a respectable volume of water at cer-
tain seasons of the year, the Vash Shar struggles
past the hamlet, only to meet the fate of all these
snow-fed streams. Nothing in the shape of run-
ning water seems able to withstand the dreaded
sands. For although the former leave the moun-
tains, as we saw earlier, foaming torrents with
every appearance of being able to sweep any-

158 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

thing from their course, the passive resistance of
the latter invariably conquers in the end.

At Vash Shar we had to regret the loss of two
more caravan ponies, besides which, thanks to the
stupidity of one of the village boys, I nearly lost
my riding animal. One of the caravan animals
altogether broke down, so was put out of his
misery. Our shikarri at once pounced on him,
and proceeded to cut off all four feet. Upon
being asked the reason for his haste, he remarked
— " Has he not four shoes, and in the shoes are
there not nails?"

Such is the value of the smallest piece of iron in a
country where wood entirely takes its place. We
also added another item of information to our stock
over the death of the pony. When the shikarri
had finished his work, a second man at once com-
menced to skin both hind legs : this, he informed
us, was the choicest part of the animal for leather,
and as his boots often required patching, was it not
wrong to waste it ?

The accident to my own pony occurred as we
arrived at Vash Shar. After dismounting I handed
the reins to a village urchin, with signs to walk the
animal round while I went to select a spot for the
camp. I had got off the pony in one comer of
a walled enclosure where the corn is threshed, and
where, according to local custom, it is also stored in
deep circular pits, a few feet in diameter. Before I
had crossed the enclosure I heard the soimd of a
scuffle, then a shriek from the lad, and upon turning
round, what was my astonishment to see no pony,
and the lad wildly gesticulating on the edge of one

A WANDERING NDiBOD. 159

of the pits. Without any idea of what had hap-
pened, I ran to the pit and there saw the wretched
animal ciirled up at the bottom, quite unable to
move. As he lay with the front of his head jammed
against his tail, he looked for all the world like
a whiting ready trussed to be cooked. How he got
into such a position or how he managed to fall into
so narrow a pit at all, I never understood. How-
ever, we set to work to dig him out, and after
twenty minutes were able to pull him on to his legs.
Making a ramp at one end of the now enlarged pit,
out he walked, neither himself nor my European
saddle any the worse. Before reaching Ghakalik
one other small stream was crossed. This is locally
called the Jhilijk river, and was the only stream,
since leaving the Cherchen, which held any water.

Between Cherchen and Chakalik we had met very
few local travellers, and only one of any interest.
This was a cheery fellow, half sportsman by pro-
fession, wholly a wanderer by nature. He carried
with him an ancient and prehistoric blunderbuss,
and appeared to be immensely taken with our rifles.
Of his own movements he talked freely, and, as is
the custom of the road in the East to which all
honest travellers must conform, we, with slight
reservation, were equally communicative. Our friend
informed us that he had only twelve days previously
returned frx)m Lhasa, where he had been as guide
to a Lama who had been making the pilgrimage.
The l.tt«h«i eommaoced hi. joLey i K^-Zj
Semipalatmsk, whence, after crossing into Chinese
Turkestan, he made his way by the Hi river to
Chakalik. From such vast distances do devout

160 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

Buddhists come. Having fingered most of om*
clothing, and inquired the price of the rest of it,
our cheerful finend expressed much admiration for
our boots. For want of anything to say to keep
the conversation going, I inquired if he had ever
seen any like them before. " Oh yes," he replied
without hesitation ; " since the white soldiers were
at Lhasa everybody there wears boots like yours " !

That Sir Francis Younghusband had left an in-
delible impression of British strength and justice
we were fiilly aware, but that he had also set the
fashion in " ammunition " boots, the world has not
hitherto been informed.

Om- arrival at Chakalik was signalised by a heavy
snow-storm, and we were now face to face with
winter, which previous experience in North China
had taught us not to regard lightly. Immediately
before entering the town, though it is only by
courtesy that it can be so described, the Chakalik-
su is crossed. The stream runs in two channels,
each about a hundred yards across, and they enclose
a small island. Both were dry, having, we were
informed, run out twelve days previously. In this
condition they remain for six or eight weeks, when
the snow in the channels may begin to melt.

The oasis which the name Chakalik covers is a
small one, having a length from east to west of four-
and-a-half miles. From north to south it is nar-
rower, being only a strip one-and-a-half miles at
widest. The village is the headquarters of the last
administrative district towards China, and boasts
an Amban. Chakalik has an importance quite be-
yond its size, as being the centre upon which four

WHERE FOUB ROADS MEET. 161

important native routes converge. Though the traffic
on any one of the four is insignificant, as we cotint
it in Europe, it is none the less steady, and each
track serves, as all in the East do, as a means of
dissemiuating information slowly but surely over
very wide distances. Of these tracks by far the
most important is the one which connects in thirty-
three marches to the north, vid Korla, with Ununtsi,
the capital city of Chinese Turkestan, and to the
south across the Altyn Tag with Lhasa. The latter
place is a three months' journey from Chakalik for
ordinary native travellers, but the distance can be
covered in two months by well -mounted men to
whom time is an object. The third most important
route is that connecting Chakalik with Yarkand,
the one by which we had come. A fourth leads
south and east, following for some distance the
northern base of the Altyn Tag. It then turns
north to Sa-chu, on the borders of China proper.
The position of Chakalik is a peculiar one, and
but for being on the highroad to Tibet it would be
of no importance. Hitherto, at each oasis and town,
such as Kiria and Niya, according to local opinion
we appeared to be widening the distance between
ourselves and the centre of civilisation, which to
them meant first Khotan and then Yarkand. At
Chakalik, on the contrary, the Amban's thoughts
and conversation were always of Urumtsi and the
north, or of China. He appeared to take little or
no interest in the parts through which we had come,
and when he did speak of Cherchen or Niya, it was
much as a confirmed Londoner might of Manchester
or Birmingham.

162 IS THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

Chakalik itself consists of one mean street, partly
covered in, and under a quarter of a mile long.
Throughout a considerable portion of its length
both sides are lined by poor shops ; but except once
in eight days, when the local market is going on,
only the butchers and bakers give themselves the
trouble of opening. The population of the village
is between fo\ir and five hundred souls, and though
the general air is not one of wealth, the level of
comfort is feirly high. At the north-west comer
of the village stands a temple of pure Chinese
pattern. Following the usual custom in that country
this is half guest-house, half- temple. The offices of
the Amban, though not the yamen, stand on the
north side of the main street. These are surrounded
by a crenellated mud waU sixteen feet high, which
would offer no serious defence, except to a Turki
mob not over anxious to get in. A^t the east end of
the one street stands, in miniature, a ludicrous copy
of a Chinese city gateway. It could never have
been imposing, except possibly to the smallest of
the Turki ragamuffins who play hide-and-seek up
its tumbled-down stairway ; but as we viewed it
nothing could have been less like the gates of
Peking. As usual in the East, and especially in
China, outward show was the first consideration,
and so long as the smooth plaster lasted, the gate-
way may perhaps have fulfilled that object. Un-
fortunately for the one architectural chef-d* oeuvre of
Chakalik, the late snow-storm had fairly given it
away, for underneath one layer of bricks all the
rest was brushwood.

The Amban lives in a country house, built like

COFFEE AND PRUNES. 163

a yamen^ three-quarters of a mile outside this gate-
way. His reception of us, as well as our treatment
by him during the week we were compelled to
spend at Chakalik, have left only the kindliest
memories. He was a handsome old gentleman of
nearly seventy, who took proper pride in his per-
sonal appearance and position. A Hupeh man, his
own home was at Hankow, and upon the delights
of that now most important town he was never
weary of talking. At the time of our visit he
had been two years at Chakalik, having spent
the greater part of his official career in Tiirkestan.
During our stay he paid us daily visits, or we him,
and talked with a freedom upon any subject un-
usual in Chinese officiak.

His first call was made in state in a Peking
cart, with a proper escort, though a rather quaint
assortment. Some of these may be seen on another
page in the photograph taken in the courtyard of
our serai. For over an hour the old gentleman
sat and talked, much of his time being, as usual,
taken up with a minute examination of our camp
kit, guns, and storea My camp-bed of the " X "
pattern was an entire novelty, and when popped
into its bag for his benefit, his admiration was
boundless. Coffee and prunes helped to while
away the time; and so much did he enjoy the
latter that we were forced to present him with
one of the last of the bottles from our store cup-
board Having got the Amban into the right
humour, we thought it politic to unfold our plan
for attempting to explore the desert between
Chakalik and the Chinese border. It was neces-

164 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

sary that his goodwill should be seciired, as, with-
out it, we were well aware neither animals nor
men would be forthcoming.

At Leh the contract with our men and the
caravan bashi had been made for Chakalik, and
here they were about to leave us to return to
India. To lose the services of these men, who
had served us faithfully and for the most part
well, was a blow. However good the new lot might
turn out to be, we were strangers to one another,
neither was there the same tie between us as
usually exists in India between master and man.
In addition to purchasing or hiring camels, we
had also to refit the entire caravan. Tents,
saddlery, clothing, and boots were all in need of
repair ; and it was through the good offices of our
present guest that we hoped to make everything
smooth. His reception of our suggested plan was
at first decidedly doubtful, nor was it only the
opinion of the official he expressed when he begged
us not to make the attempt. "The road by
Urumtsi and Hami is much the best," he said ;
" if you go the other way you will die and never
get there."

Accepting this opinion as entirely one of per-
sonal regard for our safety, we made light of the
matter, but were relieved when, after a little time,
the Amban promised his official support. Having
done so, to his credit be it said, he more than
fulfilled his word. Our object temporarily gained,
we refrained for the moment from pushing the
matter any farther, preferring to hear our host
relate his experiences of life as they appear to a

THE ETIQUETTE OF SICKNESS. 165

Chinese o£Scial in Central Asia. There was no
lack of conversation, for the Amban was evidently
pleased at the opportunity of meeting his fellow-
men, foreigners though they might be. Before
the visit was concluded he began to complain
of a cough, besides detailing the symptoms fix)m
which a brother who lived with him, he said, was
suffering. A few minutes previously we had been
imwise enough to allow him to see the small
medicine case we carried, which we ought to
have known would be quite sufficient to inoculate
him with all the diseases it was designed to cure.
Luckily the particular ill he announced himself a
victim to did not require much diagnosing. We
promptly recommended, and handed to his head
factotum for the old gentleman's use, four Dover
powder tabloids. When it came to prescribing
for the absent brother our knowledge of pharmacy
was hardly equal to the task of recognising the
symptoms from which he had been said to suffer.
As a harmless general remedy I suggested phena-
cetin, but this we decided not to try, as my
companion remarked that it was only used for
sea-sickness. Dover powders, our own favourite
medicine, we did not like to prescribe, as in the
East etiquette forbids an inferior even to suffer
fix>m the same form of malady as a superior, and
the Amban was already booked for Dover powders.
There seemed nothing for it but to strike out a
new line and hope for the best ; so to ensure the
absent brother receiving every chance, we fell back
on that ever popular remedy, quinine. With half
a dozen of these tabloids in one hand and as many

166 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

Dover powder ones in the other, with minute
instructions as to the time they were to be taken
and the quantity, we eventually helped the Amban
into his Peking cart, triumphantly bidding him
what, in spite of our prescriptions, we hoped was
only a temporary farewell.

The next few days were fully occupied in at-
tending to such matters as the hiring of the new
men and camels, as well as by the attempt to
discover a guide. The purchase of sufficient grain
was another item of importance.

In the intervals of leisure we renewed our
acquaintance with hawking, and that under the
wing of another good sportsman who traded in
skins. We also endeavoured to ascertain if the
site of the present town is an old one; but in
the East such inquiries are usually not fruitful
of information. Immediately to the north-east
of the present main street there are the ruins of
an ancient fort. These are only just traceable,
and with no means of verification it would be
pure guesswork to hazard an opinion as to their
age. A modem, and for local requirements suf-
ficently solid, fort stands south of the east-end of
the town. It is barely a quarter of a mile from
the gate previously mentioned, and commands the
village. In shape the fort is square, with crenellated
walls of mud-brick 100 yards long. The trace has
a double enceinte, with moat and corner towers.
Inside are barrack huts and stables for the usual
non-existent garrison. At the time of our visit
the latter was represented by a bright -looking
active Turki youth, who was practising the lance

A DI8APPEABING QABRISON. 167

exercise with no small skill, for the edification of
two other youngsters. Though at first abashed
by our presence, he soon regained confidence
enough to give another performance ; but how or
from whom he had learnt the drill we were unable
to ascertain. Inquiring from a respectable China-
man, the only other occupant of the fort, what
had become of its garrison, we received the answer
we had expected. As happens with such curious
frequency to garrisons in China, the whole five
hundred had been sent away " into the country "
the day before our arrival.

Later on the commander of the fort honoured us
with a calL He was a pleasant fellow of about
thirty -eight years of age — a Honan man — and
left the impression that he was quite wasted in
his present position, as well as utterly sick of life
at Chakalik.

The only other building of any note is a small
mosque which stands in a courtyard adjacent to
the bazar. The building is of the plainest and
simplest kind, hardly rising above the mud-brick
standard. As a Mohammedan the Turki takes
his religion, as he does most mundane affairs,
lightly. While "doing" the bazar one market-
day, when it was supposed to be in friU swing,
we found that it was also the fashionable day for
attending the mosque. The swing was entirely
absent from the proceedings in the bazar, which,
perhaps, accounted for my being able to pick up
a fine pair of leather embroidered saddle-bags for
the price of what is commonly known at home
as a hold-all. These saddle-bags are heirlooms.

168 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

and form part of the invariable equipment of any
well-to-do Turki when on the road.

After a week, of which the last days passed
somewhat impatiently, the long -delayed camels
ordered by the Amban appeared. He had already
selected the men he intended should accompany
us, as well as fixed the wages they were to receive.

The last day we proceeded in all the state we
could muster to make our adieux at the Amban's
country residence. We were by this time on most
friendly terms, and the daily passage of one party
to call on the other had become one of the events
to which the bazar loafers looked forward. Having
repeated our polite speeches, according to Chinese
custom, and having also relieved our feelings by
expressing our most grateful thanks for all the
old gentleman had been kind enough to do for
us, we rose to take our departure. In the court-
yard of the yamen building a score or so of the
inhabitants, and the usual retinue, were drawn up.
Not content with this, the Amban also insisted
upon firing three pop -guns which stood in the
yard. The only result of this honour was to
make it utterly impossible for us to get anywhere
near our frightened ponies. When the firing
began I had just put out my hand to say good-
bye in the European fashion, which the Amban
had adopted from us, and this he promptly seized
and retained, much to Layard's amusement, until
the saluting was over.

169

CHAPTER IX.

TXABFUL FARIWBLLB— AN ANOIKNT SKA-8H0JIX—ABDAL— MARCO POLO
AND THB DISKBT SOUNDS— R00T-HXAP8 — A CHRISTMAS KVR DIKVRR
IN THE DISXRT — THI FINDINO OF A BAG OF CORN — A DISBRT
TRAOKDT — THE CHINISB TORLA OR WATCH-TOWBRS — A WIND-
STORM IN TBI DBSBRT — KARA NOR — A DBYOTBD SURTBTOR —
SACHU.

Not until we had left Chakalik was it possible to
realise the fiiU force of the description given by
Marco Polo of the Lop country. A first instalment
of what might be expected was suggested by the
behaviour of the wives and mothers of the new
caravan men as we marched out of Chakalik. Sven
Hedin has remarked, in one of his journeys, upon
the callousness with which a certain follower left
his home and family at a moment's notice to accom-
pany him on a year's absence. Our experience was,
unfortunately, quite the reverse. For the first mile
out of Chakalik our progress resembled, in minia-
ture, the march of a regiment at home about to
embark for foreign service. Most tearful were the
farewells, and again and again were final embraces
exchanged between the men and their families.
By the time Abdal was reached matters had some-
what improved, but either the new lot were a
lugubrious set or visions of the desert-crossing lay

170 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

heavy upon their miuds. From Chakalik to Abdal
is a matter of four days' march. Snow lay widely
spread, though not deep, and as the south-western
end of the Kara Koshun marshes was approached,
the surrounding country presented a most gloomy
picture. On aU sides a dreary waste of marsh
stretches to the horizon. Occasional belts of
decayed jungle and dried reeds do but add to the
mournful aspect of the general surroundings. It is
well known that the whole of the vast basin of
Central Asia, with which European maps are
familiar under the name of the Gobi desert, and
which occupies the centre of that continent, was
once a great ocean. Fumpelly and other authori-
ties are of opinion that this ocean, which at a
comparatively recent geological date extended from
the Caspian to the Khinghan mountains in Man-
churia, was drained by a volcanic upheaval. That
this ocean theory is correct no one who has visited
the central portion of the basin, which includes
Lopnor, the Kara Koshun marshes, and the Kum Tag
desert, could doubt. From the point of view of
physical geography, the eastern end of the Lopnor
basin also offers most interesting and convincing
evidence of the truth of this theory. Every day
spent by our caravan in the Kum Tag desert, east of
Lopnor, confirms the impression which the con-
figuration of the land suggests — viz., that one is
travelling along an ancient sea-shore. So strong is
the impression that it is impossible to describe this
portion of the desert in other language than would
be used were this still the case.

In a paper read by Prince Krapotkin at a meeting

LOPNOR. 171

of the Boyal Geographical Society in March 1903,
the whole situation is stated most succinctly, and
no more exact appreciation of the true situation can
be gained than by quoting a brief portion of the
opinion there expressed. " With regard to Lopnor,"
says Prince Krapotkin, "I will permit myself to
remark that I do not think that the lake Kara
Eoehun — that is, the Lopnor of Prjevalsky— can be
considered as anything else but the present re-
mainder from the great lake Lopnor. But what
appears to me quite certain, after Sven Hedin's
surveys, levellings, and discoveries, is that there
was first a time when Lopnor covered the whole of
the triangular space which is limited, on the west
by the southward course of the Tarim, on the south-
east by the lake Kara Koshun, and on the north-
east by the escarpment of the Kurruk - tag, which
runs in a north-west to south-east direction. The
place of the sixty springs, Altimish Bulak, which
has been visited previously by the Russian ex-
plorers, and lies, according to their determinations,
at an altitude of 3600 feet, stands on the border of
the escarpment and the triangular space between
the escarpment; the Tarim river, and the plains
which spread at the foot of the Altyn Tag, must
have been occupied some time by a large basin,
upon the shores of which stood that spot of the
Lou-Ian region in which Sven Hedin found such
interesting manuscripts. Later on the lake occu-
pied the eastern part only of that triangular basin,
and now the lake Kara Koshun, or the Lopnor of
Pijevalsky, represents the southern trough of that
depression which continues still to be occupied by

172 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MASCO POLO.

what has survived of the Lopnor. At any rate,
when the full reports and the levellings of Sven
Hedin are published and the whole district is better
explored, it will certainly appear that within this
triangular depression, the Lopnor desert in Stieler's
atlas map, the lake was changing its position in
proportion as it decreased, and it may change it
several times more before the general desiccation of
Central Asia, which is going on at great speed, will
finally move the Tarim lake farther south-west-
wards to meet the Cherchen, and finally reduce
what will remain of the Lopnor to the little lake
Kara-buran which we see at the jimction of the
Yarkand Darya with the Cherchen river."

The last few miles before the traveller reaches
Abdal presents the most depressing stretch of land-
scape since Chakalik. Crossing the snow-covered
sai the action of the wind was most marked, not
only upon the sand, but upon the fine gravel of
which the sai is partly composed. Through the
snow the tope of smaU ridges of gravel rise to a
height of from twelve to eighteen inches. As
regular as, and resembling the tops of, small waves
breaking upon a sea -shore, these ridges run at
right angles to the prevailing winds, north-east
to south - west. Each " wavelet " is from six to
forty feet in length. They are slightly convex
towards the prevailing north - east wind, and the
general formation extends for mUes.

Abdal itself is a collection of reed satmay among
which are a few mud hovels belonging to the head-
men. The settlement contains some fifteen families,
who exist mainly by the fishing in the spring and

HABDT MABSHM£N. 173

summer. The huts lie for three-quarters of a mile
along the right bank of the Cherchen Darya, which
here empties itself into the marshes. While we
were at Abdal the river was hard firozen some
six inches down, and had been so for eighteen days.
To the natives the river is known as the Cherchen,
but, according to the story told by an old man, the
Cherchen is considered by them to be composed of
three other streams — the Yarkand river, the Kucha
river, and the Earasha river. Our reception, even
at this miserable spot, was as cordial as the in-
habitants could make it. The Lop men are of the
same t3rpe as the Turkis, and the existence led by
these hardy marshmen is indeed a trying one. At
the time of our visit the thermometer had begun
to register 40*^ to 50*^ of frost during the night,
and the north-east wind, though somewhat less cruel
than the west wind of Tibet, was sufficiently trying.
Exposed to such biting cold during the winter
months, the contrast of the heat of simimer is,
according to Sven Hedin, no less trying. Worst
of all, the insect plague of mosquitoes and gad-
flies is such that during the summer not even
the shepherds nor their flocks dare remain near
the marsh district. At Abdal we were joined
by the guide who was to escort us across the
desert He had been procured by our friend
the Amban of Chakalik, and turned out to be a
faithful servant.

Upon 17th December our party left Abdal to
attempt the passage of the desert. It was our
intention at first to make direct for Sachu or, as
it is always known locally, Tung-huang, but we

174 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

eventually changed our plans owing to suggestions
from the guide. After leaving Abdal the general
direction ran north-east and east-north-east for the
next month. Skirting the southern edge of the
Kara Koshun marshes, we camped the first night
beside its frozen border. Here we were reminded
of the quaint description given by Marco Polo of
this district, and more especially of his remarks as
to the sounds of musical instruments and drums said
to be heard by travellers. That these legends have
some foundation in fact we discovered for ourselves,
especially when the Oriental language Marco Polo
would use in describing them is allowed for. In
the East slight exaggeration is considered an art,
not, as in the West, a fault. To our camp that
evening on the edge of the ice weird sounds came
floating. These were nothing but the groaning
and booming of the ice, re-echoing from and over
the distant marshes as the temperature dropped
and it froze harder. Not being an Asiatic, I
should describe it as the far-off sound of trumpet-
ing elephants, but of the two descriptions that
of Marco Polo is certainly the more poetical.

It was not until three days after quitting Abdal
that we found ourselves approaching the first series
of sandy cliflfe which so obviously denote the shores
of a former ancient sea. So far our track had run
over rough frozen mud, locally known as shor^
or through reed jungle in which are dotted the
sand root -heaps previously mentioned. The shor
is a mixture of salt deposit, dust, and lime, and
has the appearance of a clay field newly steam-
ploughed, then frozen solid. For miles our track

ROOT-HEAPS. 175

ran over ground of this nature, and the effect on
both the ponies and camels was to knock their feet
to pieces. Though never found on the shor^ the
sand root -heaps which exist in the desert are a
real blessing to the traveller, for without them fuel
would be unobtainable. Many a good bonfire we
owed to their presence, nor were they to be despised
as wind-screens under which to camp at night. In
order to give some idea of the size of these mounds,
it may be mentioned that one, which we tried to
set light to, measured fifteen feet in height, and was
forty paces round the base. As a display our effort
was a failure, but as a magnified camp-fire it sent
us all to bed happy that night.

It is difficult to account satisfactorily in detail
for the presence of these root -heaps, which vary
so greatly in size. That they are caused by the
invasion of the sand there is of course no doubt,
and where the largest still remain they are in all
probability the graves of bygone forests which
edged this inland sea. The heaps found in the
desert are on a very much smaller scale than these
near Abdal. They exist for the most part where
marshy spots or springs are or have once been.
Elach bush when alive naturally dropped its fronds
in the autumn directly into its own roots. This
continued year after year, and each sand-storm, or
even the ordinary high winds which prevail, blew
the sand more and more into and on to the bushes.
As the sand covers the fronds heaped at the roots
and mixes with them, it so gradually turns them
into the sand -heaps which, while the bush still
lived, had the top showing. Now that the bushes

176 DT THE FOOISTEFS OW MABCO TOUk

are dead, and the ceaseless struggle with the over-
whelming sand is finished, the latter has spread all
over the bosh.

The first line of clifEs met with rose at a point
where the bed of the desert was 2300 feet above
sea-leveL The clifib themselves averaged thirty-five
feet in height, were covered on top with fine gravel,
and had buttress-like faces to the north. Along
the base of the difGs ran a strip of reed-grass some
twenty to forty yards wide, in which at intervals
were marshy springs of very saline water. Once
having struck the difik, our guide pursued his way
along the reed-strip until we camped for the night.
The water which oozed firom the wet spots was here
unfit for use, so the ponies had to be fed on crushed
ice. It was our custom to melt as much of the ice
we carried as would suffice for the evening wants
of men and ponies; but it not imfirequently hap-
pened that the fuel wherewith to melt the ice was
as scarce as the water itself. One night our guide
informed us that for three days neither water nor
fuel was to be found, so at starting next morning
sufficient roots were piled on the camels to last
that time. The following day the guide struck
away from the foot of the cliffs out into the bare
desert. Throughout this march no sign of vege-
tation was to be seen, the surface being of the
nature already alluded to as shor. The cliffs
appeared to run on east as far as the eye could
see. After a poor camp on the shor^ with, luckily
for us, a windless night, we resumed the march.
Continuing north-east, it was not long before sand-
hills appeared in the distance, rising like a group

THE WILD CAMEL. 177

of islancU from the desert. These were forty to
fifty feet high, and the sur&ce of the ground
adjacent either gravelly sand or a hard lagoon-
like bottom. A few miles farther on more hillocks
and sand-ridges appeared, and at nine miles from
the last camp we found ourselves at the foot of
another line of cliffs almost identical with the first.
The direction of the new shore was firom east-north-
east to west-south-west, and the clifis ran as high
in places as sixty feet. Below them SLgain was the
strip of dried r^-grass. thirty yanfabroad. with
the same marshy spots at intervals. Through the
face of the clifis a running stream of shallow water,
a few feet wide and frozen solid, had carved a way.
When running it must waste itself in the reed-
strip or, when the ice was broken, farther on in
the desert. The firozen pools round the spot where
it emerged fixmi the cliflfe were found to be very
salt. An interesting point is raised by the question
how long the little stream had taken to carve the
miniature gorge in the cliffs. The latter was fifty
to sixty feet deep, and at the top had a breadth
of thirty feet. During the passage of the Eum Tag
we were, as for most of our journey, dependent
upon our rifles for meat. The local name for the
small gazelle is juggran and these pretty little
animals were found at intervals all through the
desert. This particular camp seemed to be a
favourite retreat, and though the satisfaction of
stalking and bagging a buck at 300 yards was
ours, we felt that it was taking an unfair advan-
tage to wait for them at their own water -hole&
Of the wild camel we did not obtain a specimen,

178 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

although in certain portions of the desert their
tracks, rolling spots, and ^'runs/' are as common
as are those of hares at home.

Throughout part of another day's march we fol-
lowed the base of the clifis until in the afternoon
they became less regular. Isolated hillocks thrust
themselves in front of the main line, but the general
nature of the clifis remained the same. Once more
our guide intimated his intention to quit the clifis,
so we struck away north -north -east. As before,
the line of cliffii continued east as far as the eye
was able to follow them. Within five miles we
had reached yet a third line of cliffs, identical with
the other two. This last we approached, as it were,
frt>m behind, turning to march along the top of the
escarpment. Continuing along the cliffs for the next
five mUes, we crossed what correspond to regular
bays and inlets on the sea-shore. At the foot of
the cliffs ran the usual strip of reed -grass, with
some marshy spots. Three small springs of some-
what saline character afforded the best water we
had tasted since leaving Abdal ; and that evening,
as there was some doubt about any for the next
few days, and as it was Christmas Eve, we decided
to give the animals and ourselves a day's rest, and
to spend as merry a Christmas as possible under
the circumstances. The next day was spent in
making a detailed section of the face of the cliff,
which may be found in the Appendix, also in cele-
brating the day. For a dinner in the middle of
the Eum Tag desert we were rather proud of our
menu. Should it tempt any blasS diner-out to
travel so far in search of the local condiments, I

POTAOB 2 LA DiSBRT. l79

can assure him that he will also find there an
appetite he has long been a stranger to.

CHRISTMAS EYE DINNER KUM TAG DESEBT.
Latitude by stars, 40' 22' 25".

Pdtage k la d^rt

Poiason k Lopnor glac^

Bdti Venaison Joggran.

G&teau de Biz.

Abricots 4 sec 4 la Turkestan.

Miel glac&

Finest Hankow tea k la Mandarin Chakalik.

Liqueurs : Cognac with salt water.

Une demi tasse without, to correct the first.

Cigars : the last two of the finest Leh bazar brand.

Boxing - Day found the caravan traversing a
terrace of hard gravel half-way up the cliff fieice,
but still continuing along the old sea -shore.
Having crossed a large promontory^ we descended
into a big bay which runs back two miles to the
south. In the bay stood some curious flat-topped
islands eighty to ninety feet high. The bed of
the bay is covered with reed-grass and clay mud,
the fine gravel which is found on the tops of the
clifiis being conspicuous by its absence. The next
afternoon we turned away from the cliffs, and for
the first time found ourselves in the vicinity of
some of the curious terrace formations or day
ya/rdangs which Sven Hedin alludes to. Scored
and eroded by the action of wind and water, the
shapes assumed by this formation are of the quaint-
est kind. The first we saw displayed the most

180 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

perfect natural imitation of a ruined city imagin-
able, and such I took it to be. Riding over towards
it, even closer inspection did not dispel the illusion,
for after climbing the outer debris one still retained
the impression of ruined walls from which towers,
gateways, and buttresses had gradually fallen
away.

Although we had finally quitted the line of
clifiSs, these could be seen four or five miles distant
to the south. In the open desert stony ridges,
upon which rock outcropped, began to appear.
The sub-formation of all these ridges, as well as
of the hillocks which intervened, is the same as
that of the cliffs. The sand is not loose and soft,
but hard pressed, clean and clay-like, as if built
up. Passbg one of these ridges we received un-
doubted evidence that the desert route is used at
times, for entirely by accident one of the followers
discovered a piece of sacking, portion of a bag,
buried at the foot of one of the terraces, which
turned out to contain Indian corn.

I had climbed to the top of the highest ridge
in order to try and get a view over the surround-
ing country for survey work, while Lall Singh was
plotting at its foot. One of the men holding the
ponies noticed the corner of the bag sticking out
from the base of the ridge. Such an extraordinary
find naturally excited his curiosity, and, shouting
to me, the man at once began to dig away the
soil as best he could. A few minutes' work re-
warded us by the find of the above-mentioned
treasure - trove, and although further search was
made in every direction nothing more was seen.

THB AHBAN's wife. 181

To make this unlooked-for gift more valuable still,
we had found the previous evening that our grain
was being used up quicker than we had antici-
pated — at least, our progress so far had been
slower; so there and then the famished ponies
had one good meal in addition to their miserable
ration of a pound a-day.

While at Chakalik the Amban, in a fit of confi-
dence, had told us that he was expecting a second
wife, whom, he added with Chinese naivete, he had
purchased at Sachu. He then proceeded to state
that she would probably come by the desert track,
adding, " That is, if they can come before the winter
is over." The latter portion of his remark may
sound strange, as winter, it might be assumed, was
a season to, be avoided. It is, however, the only
time the crossing of the desert can be attempted,
owing to the fact that ice for water can then be
carried. The Amban also stated that only three
or four camels would constitute the caravan of his
second wife, in order that they might use the
utmost haste. The difficulty of the task assigned
to the escort he fully allow^, but consoled himself
by saying that it was easy enough to buy wives in
China.

It was not until our bag of com had been dis*
covered that we even gave a second thought to
the story the old gentleman had related, but,
trying to account for such an extraordinary find,
we began to wonder if it could have any connection
with his love-affair. That it had, and a very sad
one, other and later finds of quite a different kind
proved almost conclusively ; and the story may as

182 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

well be told now, though it waa some time before
we realised the whole truth. A few days after
the discovery of the com I was attracted by the
antics of the caravan dog, who had accompanied
us from Abdal, and riding over to see what inter-
ested him, I found the remains of two camels and
a pack-saddle.

It is necessary here to interpolate somewhat,
in order to make clear the sequence of subsequent
events. Our own caravan had by this time suffered
from lack of water and short commons, several of
the ponies had had to be shot, one of the camels
had given up altogether, and a second was very
lame. In order not to drop any of the baggage
it was imperative, owing to the loss of ponies, to
increase the loads all round, and this was just
what the animals could not stand.

One evening the camels, who usually marched
separately owing to their slow pace, had kept
ahead of the caravan and had gone on too far.
The main body were forced to camp, and so the
camels had to be recalled or left out. It was
decided to send a man to try and find them,
although there was no small risk of his tempor-
arily losing both parties.

Where we had halted the desert was as bare
as the palm of one's hand, the surface still com-
posed of the unyielding shor. With the camels
was the supply of both ice and roots for fuel, so
it was imperative that they should rejoin the
caravan that night. Long after dark we heard
in the distance the well-known ** Hoi Hoich ! " the
high - pitched cry with which the Turki driver

A DESERT TRAGEDY. 183

urges on his patient camels; and right glad we
were, not only at the prospect of food, but also
that our messenger had been successful. To get
back our animals in safety was sufficient to put
every one into good -humour, but there was still
greater cause for rejoicing when our headman
came to report that the camel-drivers had brought
in a strange camel they had found. Had he
said, created by a miracle, our astonishment could
hardly have been greater.

The wild camel, according to the natives, can
wind a man ten miles off, and a tame specimen
was just as likely to be found wandering in the
desert as it would be in Piccadilly. The captured
animal was saddleless, but without doubt a tame
one. Where, then, could he have come from ? At
the moment our sense of relief at the extraordinary
piece of good fortune overrode every other feeling,
for here was the very help we would yesterday
have paid almost any sum for. That night our
men set to work to make a temporary pack-saddle
for the new-comer, and in the morning we were
able to transfer the loads of four ponies on to his
broad back.

But it is necessary to finish the story of the
Amban's caravan first. In the latest capture,
when we had had time to think, we found con-
firmation of our worst fears. Already two of the
total number of animals which the Amban had
stated would convey his young wife, had been
found dead. Here undoubtedly was a third, prob-
ably the only one left alive. What, then, had
happened to the travellers who accompanied them ?

184 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

What was the fate of the poor little girl ? It is
better perhaps not to inquire, not even to think.
Unable at best to do more than hobble a few
yards on her own feet, what chance of escape
had she, even if the escort would be burdened
with her in the attempt they probably made to
regain their starting-point? If her camels did
die, to us knowing the desert there was little
doubt as to her end. Let us hope that it came
quickly.

By the end of December we had begun to find
the question of water a difficulty. In the strips
of vegetation, which ran along the base of the
lines of cliff, water of a kind, or ice, was usually
forthcoming. Once the clifGs had been left behind,
the question became one of digging. As a rule
a depth of from five to six feet produced a few
inches of liquid, half mud half water, for which
when it came we were thankful. Occasionally it
was necessary to go deeper. Some of the sweetest
water tasted in the desert was the result of a
ten -foot excavation. The last day of the year
found the caravan camped by a good water-hole,
and, as the weekly rest was about due, we decided
to see the old year out with a sufficiency of that
priceless liquid.

Shortly before the New Year camp, for the first
time since Abdal, the boundless horizon to the
north was broken in the distance by an indistinct
line of hills. After the rest to the ponies on New-
Year's Day I was able temporarily to quit the
caravan to explore the northern range. Strange
as it may sound to suggest any difficulty in such

new-year's day. 186

a simple transaction, the condition of our ponies
and caravan at this time must not be forgotten.
In the half-starved state the majority were in, it
was as much as each could do to carry his pair
of ydkdans through the day. Only the strongest
could be ridden, and even these not out of a
walk. Under such circumstances, to venture to
leave the caravan, even to ride on a magnetic
bearing at right angles to it, had all the excite-
ment of novelty. New -Year's Day was a beauti-
ful specimen of the Central Asian climate at
its best, and to those who are acquainted with
its dry exhilarating character, this is no mean
praise. A two hours' ride over heavy sand-dunes,
frozen shor^ and lagoon bottoms, brought me to
the edge of the aai^ which, as usual, led up to the
base of the hilla Having crossed this gravelly
glacis for about a mile, clay yardangs were met
with until the last 400 feet, when the range
rises precipitously to a narrow rugged ridge
800 to 1000 feet high. This ridge is composed
of hard clay -like mud, below which there is
possibly sand. No vegetation whatever is to be
seen on the range. The general direction is from
east-north-east to west-south-west, the ridge curv-
ing towards the east and lessening in height as
it does so. In the only European map of these
regions in our possession, the southern ranges of
the Rumik-tag were not shown nearly so far
south. But that the range visited was one of
these there can be little doubt.

The evening of the day I rejoined the caravan
was the same on which the camel was brought

186 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

into camp. It has already been mentioned that
no pack - saddle was with him, but our men soon
made up one. By this extraordinary piece of good
fortune our present fears of having to leave any
baggage behind were ended.

On January 2nd we reached a good water-hole
which, on accoimt of the three tiny trees it pos-
sesses, boasts the name Tograck-kuduck. It was
beside the same hole that Sven Hedin camped in
1901 when he left the Anan Baruin-ula in the
Sartang district of Tibet, to cross the Kum Tag
desert from south to north. And in this con-
nection an interesting point arose. After leaving
Tograck-kuduck, Sven Hedin struck due north.
In the description of the next few days' jour-
ney, he writes : ^ " Now, according to the existing
maps of the centre of Asia, there ought to have
been a considerable mountain - range across our
path; but such elevations as we saw were so
insignificant as scarcely to deserve the name of
mountains at all."

The appearance during our journey, for the first
time since Abdal, of any mountain-ranges to the
north, has already been recorded. And that this
should have happened only thirty-five miles west
of the spot where Sven Hedin, from the better
maps he probably had, expected to find them,
speaks well for the accuracy of these latter.
That Sven Hedin should have happened to cross
the eastern end of the range where it evidently
dwindles to a mere succession of ridges, serves to
show how easily wrong impressions may arise, even

* * Central Asia and Tibet/ by Sven Hedin. Vol. il p. 89.

A COMFORTABLE CAMP. 187

in the case of such a highly-trained and accurate
observer as the great Swedish traveller. Had he
crossed what we have called the Tograck - kuduck
valley, thirty -five miles farther to the west, he
would have been confronted by the mountain-range
which his maps led him to expect.

After leaving the water-hole of Tograck-kuduck
the traveller continues in the region of clay-ter-
races, and the single towers of the same formation.
The surface of the desert varies between heavy
sand and firmer ground, with clumps of thin rJl
bushes, the latter only occupjring the lagoon-like
depressions which are now a common feature. Be-
tween the depressions are bare open plains, whose
surface is fine hard gravel On them not a blade
of vegetation is to be seen.

Twenty days firom Abdal we camped one even-
ing by a good water-hole in one of ttlese depres-
sions, finding, much to our surprise, a clearly-
marked river-bed, in which were a quantity of
growing reeds and some undergrowth. The
stream flows from east to west down a ravine
400 yards wide, and has itself a bed -breadth
of twenty to twenty -five yards. We found it
frozen solid, having the banks thickly covered
with reeds and the familiar root -heaps. On
one bank of the stream among the reeds was
a water -hole containing the sweetest water we
had yet found. Five miles to the north of the
stream-bed a range of mountains about 1000 feet
in height obscures the horizon. This spot formed
the most comfortable camp we had enjoyed in the
desert, and, but for the fact of losing my riding

188 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

pony there, would have left nothing but pleasant
memories. How he met his death we could never
ascertain. Upon going to break the ice on the
water-hole at dawn, the pony was foimd stone
dead, with his head hanging over the hole.
Whether he had been attempting to get down
to the water during the night and had slipped
and dislocated his spinal cord, it was impos-
sible to telL The loss was a heavy one, as by
it we were almost reduced to daily walking dur-
ing the rest of the desert passage. The death of
this pony made the sixth which had succumbed
since leaving AbdaL

It was near the eastern side of this stream-bed
that the first of the torla or watch-towers, which
marked the ancient Chinese highway referred to in
an earlier chapter, was discovered. Not far from
the torla we came on a fairly well-marked track
leading north-west. This, I believe, was the one
made use of by M. Bonin on his adventurous
journey from Sachu to the ancient site of Lou-Ian,
thence on to the Tarim river. There is from this
spot also a broad araba track made by the people
of Sachu, who, our guide said, were in the habit of
venturing so far into the desert during the summer
in order to obtain wood from the old belts of
tograck. The same evening we reached the
western end of a long and almost dry lagoon,
where ramifications extend east as far as
Kara Nor.

After a long and hard march of eighteen miles,
made on foot, we camped under shelter of a small
rise — luckily for us, as it turned out. The usual

A DESERT OALE. 189

meal and pipe saw us under the rugs ; but before
there was time to drop off to sleep a furious
storm broke over the camp : anything like the
force of the wind we had never experienced
before. Luckily the tents were under a gentle
rise, and made fast fore and aft to some small
trees ; the pegs also, as was our custom, were
anchored down by the yakdans placed on top of
theuL For five hours the tents swayed and rocked
like boats at sea, threatening every moment to
be blown clean away; and all that could be done
was to ding tightly to the front pole, hoping
that the additional weight might prevent the
final catastrophe. The storm broke in mad gusts
about 9 P.M., blew its hardest about 10 p.m., and,
as we foolishly imagined, appeared to be subsiding
at 11 P.M. Feeling the wind going down, we
ventured to quit the tent-poles and to exchange
confidences as to the damage, so far as we could
make oinrselves heard. Hardly had we crept back
into our rugs and gone off to sleep, when we
were once more awoke by the same terrific
gusts and wild shaking of the tents. There was
nothing to be done but to jump out into 25""
of frost and again hang with all one's weight
on to the tent -pole. For another two - and -a-
half hours the gale raged, until we almost
began to despair of keeping the wind out. Had
the door - fastenings given, or one gust managed
to get in, the whole tent would have gone.
Luckily neither of these things happened, and by
half-past 2 a.m. it was safe to creep back once
more into one's rugs, — and this time for what

190 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

was left of the night. Waking in the morning
there was no sign of wind or storm ; and but
for layer upon layer of fine sand which had
penetrated everjrwhere, the whole Kara-buran
might have been a nightmare.

In the morning we explored the lagoon, find-
ing along its southern border the remains of
another ancient watch-tower — one of a series of
four visible from this point, including the one
already mentioned. The watch-towers are some
two miles apart, well placed to be seen, and on
a line nearly west and east. The first watch-
tower is built of mud- or clay -bricks, between
which are layers of reeds. It had a base some
thirty feet square at the bottom and fifteen feet
at the top. The entrance must have been by
ladder, or, as is still seen on the watch-towers
in north-west Kansu, by a very slender stairway
outside up one wall. This stairway is also of
mud -brick; but one can be destroyed in a few
minutes once the defenders have mounted.

Five miles to the north of the lagoon the spurs
of the nearest Kurruk-tag can be seen. During
the following day, having crossed an undulating
wind-swept plateau covered with fine gravel, we
dropped as usual into a depression in which there
has been, and is now at times, a lagoon. At the
south - east end we came upon the ruins of an
ancient fortified post or kurgan. The walls are
built of small clay- or mud -bricks, and are still
fourteen to sixteen feet thick. It had two entrances
—one to the west, another to the north, — and was
roofiess. The walls are twenty to twenty-five feet

AN EXCHANGE OF PONIES. 191

high, and were once probably higher. The post is
of wonderful solidity, and in its day must have
been impregnable.

Later on the same day another hurgan was dis-
covered; but this was of larger dimensions, and
probably held a permanent garrison. The remains
of the double walls are eighty yards long by fifty
wide outside, the inner walls being some thirty feet
above ground - level. The site overlooks a wide-
spreading lagoon eight to ten miles in extent, the
bed of which held little water, being filled for
the most part with reed-jungle and clay mounds.
In the lagoon bed we found the first signs of the
presence of human beings at no great distance, in
the shape of a herd of poniea These ai-e turned
out by the Sachu people to fend for themselves
during the winter, and proved a great find to
us. Three more of our ponies were on their last
legs, so it did not take us very long to round
up and catch three of the herd. On to these we
speedily transferred our pack-saddle and yakdans^
leaving our own beasts — not without a pang, for
they had served us faithfully and well through
much hardship for nearly six months. The same
day the first men seen since Abdal were met in
the shape of three Chinamen with two araba in
search of wood. They were driving cattle in the
araha^ and, for Chinamen, displayed no little
interest at meeting u&

Our camp this night was on the south-west
shore of Kara Nor, which we spent the following
day in exploring. The fiirst sight of it had been
obtained the previous afternoon when, just before

192 £ar TEK FOOiaXKFS or MASCO FOIiX

deriiBng to camp, we were re[<»eed to aee m wide
erpaiwe of what looked like water, but turned out
to be ioe. The loogest axis of the lake is firom
west to east, (m a bearing drawn at 270'' to
70^. The breadth of the {M^sent hoBSsi water
18 ooe said a quarter miles from north to south.
The lake-bed is boonded <xi the north bj a ridge
of hiDs whose lower day terraces f«m its boimdary,
though the lake does not at jffesoit rea^ them.
To the sooth is a wide sweep of day difib thirty-
five feet at their highest point. A portion of the
southern boundary of the lake is without diffis,
being only a gentle slope from the higher ground.
The actual breadth of the lake -bed across the
middle does not exceed five mOes, two-thirds of
which is now reeds four to five feet high, where
are patches of frozen water varying from small
ponds to sheets of ten acres in extent. To the
west the lake has all the appearance of flooding
out at times for miles, filling all the channels
and receiving the water firom many side nullahs
and depressions. These floods may reach fix)m
fifteen to eighteen miles' distance at certain
seasons, though never one imbroken sheet of water.
The main lake - bed, as we saw it, was nowhere
more than six feet deep. The breadth of the
bed at its present western end is two miles one
fiirlong. The ice on the lake was too solid to
attempt to break it. Opposite our camp it was
cracked right across, though re -frozen over into
a line of small hummocks eighteen inches high.
This was probably due to the action of the wind
and the shallowness of the western end at the

LALL 8IN0H. 193

time the lake was first frozen. The dust has so
discoloured the ice that at a few yards' distance
it has the appearance of a mud bottom.

The following hypsometer observations were
taken on the southern shore of the lake. Water
boils at 207"" ; air shade temperature, 3 p.m.,
21^'' Fahr ; aneroid height 3000 feet ; aneroid
pressure 26.60 inches.

Close to the edge of the lake were the ruins
of a tarla^ in which some fragments of pottery
were the only indications of its earlier occupation.

A quaint incident which happened at this camp
illustrates the character of our surveyor, Lall Singh,
better than any written description. A man more
absorbed in his work than he was it would be im«
possible to find. Reference has already been made
to the pluck and determination he showed in Tibet,
nor did he ever deviate by a hair's-breadth from
the highest ideal of duty. To a personal character,
which made our intercourse invariably most cordial,
he added a sublime modesty which no amount of
patting on the back could do away with. His
first thoughts in the morning and his last at
night were of his plane table, and, as the follow-
ing little incident shows, during the day it was
his one care.

We had returned from a long day's survey of
the lake, and Layard and myself were seated round
the c^p-fire 4kbg . mil and eongratulatipg
ourselves upon a useful day's work. Lall Singh
was putting the finishing touches to the map a
few yards away. We suddenly heard him make
some remark, but as he continued sketching we

ansr

rr -rmrir

^■ l illTT J»M

IT JSm

lJ-ip t l zygraniflc

T^it*- jtsm Tnm!

..V^A s«

.'.

"Z- izii izszzzs^ 'zs:

:c SLO^

J-.

--•n

IS &

i^ :& wioie

r--^A

m m

\c^:c iLsJiFz rjT the larmers* carts. Hie view of
^^•^>*st Oiinfr^e wailed towns is a pictnresqTie one,
H,iA ry^miix^, as we did, from the heart of the
^l^r^rrt, i'/oth the a-spect ot the town and the

8ACHU. 195

bustle of its immediate surroundings fairly took
away our breath.

We had taken the precaution to send on one
of our men in the early morning to announce our
arrival. With him went the letters of introduction
which our friend, the Amban of Chakalik, had been
kind enough to provide, also my Chinese visiting-
card. Armed with the former, our messenger's
reception was assured, and we were promptly met
outside the walls by a yameti runner, who conducted
us at once to a house prepared for our reception
off a quiet side-street inside the walls.

196

CHAPTER X.

THS B0UNDABIE8 OF CHINESE TURKESTAN — INTEBIOB ROUTES — THE
nVE ROUTES OF ENTRANCE AND EGRESS — ANCIENT CONNECTION
WITH INDIA — BUDDHISM AS A POWER — CHINESE ADMINISTRATION
— CURRENCY AND TAXATION — MnONO — MILITARY ORGANISATION —
THE COURIER POST— RUSSIAN DOMINATION— SIGNS OF A NEW ERA
IN ASIA.

One of the chief characteristics of those who live
in this strenuous century is a distinct impatience
with the older nations of the world in that they
are not more modern. Whether we are watching
the adoption of an up-to-date constitution, as in
Persia, by a nation whose political organisation
has hardly changed in the course of some two
thousand years, or the final disruption of a corrupt
and worthless bureaucracy, as in Russia, the upper-
most thought in the minds of most onlookers is
that the change does not come as rapidly as they
would desire. In the present day not many of
these ancient and interesting countries have been
left to be studied, but among them — itself a de-
pendency of the hoariest among nations — is the
area through which our journey had led us. It
is of the present and future condition of Chinese
Turkestan that I propose to speak in this chapter,
in hopes that the long and close connection it

CHINESE TURKESTAN. 197

once bore to India may cause some more perman-
ent interest to be extended to a country in which
singularly little is at present taken.

Invariably known to the Chinese as the Hsing
Chiang or new frontier, the name given to this
area on European maps is a somewhat vague one.
For present purposes the general boundaries of
Chinese Turkestan may be defined thus : on the
south it is bordered by an almost impassable wall
formed by the Kuen Lun mountains; on the
north by the Tian Shan mountains and their
eastern offshoots ; on the west by the Alai moun-
tains, the Eizil Art, and the great Pamirs ; on the
east no natural boundary exists, but an artificial
one is found in the main north-west road leading
from Peking to Kashgar, which here crosses the
desert at its narrowest point fix)m An-si-chou to
HamL

More interesting than the geographical bound-
aries are the political areas which surround Chinese
Turkestan. Throughout the greater part of its
length the position of Northern China marches
with that of Russia. From the Taghdumbash
Pamir for some 3000 miles north and east, Chinese
territory is coterminous with that of Russia, its
ever - expanding neighbour. In the south-west
comer lies one of the most debatable lands in
Asia, which is commonly called the Roof of the
World, where three empires meet. To the south
lie Kashmir, otherwise British India, and Tibet,
whose suzerain is China. On its eastern side
Chinese Turkestan is physically open all round,
but actually the only approach to it is through a

198 m THE -FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

thin strip of semi -cultivated territory in North-
West Eansu.

Before finally quitting the subject, some reference
should be made to the political and military points
of interest connected with this area. In addition
it may be of value to sum up briefly the possibilities
of economic expansion. Like all countries which
have remained until the beginning of the twentieth
century cut off by lack of communication from the
trade of the outside world, Chinese Turkestan is
starved for want of railway connection.

Whether the present apparent enthusiasm in
China for the advent of such modem aids to trade
is genuine or not, the writer cannot undertake to
decide. That many Chinese ofBcials who wield
authority in these far-away portions of the empire
are prepared to welcome railways, he can vouch for
from personal knowledge.

The subject is one which not only concerns the
trade of Chinese Turkestan, but possibly the ultimate
retention by the Imperial Power of its far-distant
dependency. Before considering the question of
linking up Urumtsi with Peking by rail, it will be
necessary for those responsible for its construction to
decide upon the track between the latter city and
the capital of Kansu province. And here again the
problem is by no means simple. Though Lan-chou
as the capital deserves first consideration from the
administrative point of view, technical and engineer-
ing considerations make it more than likely that
Liang-chou, a town second only to the provincial
capital in importance, will be the first to welcome
the arrival of the Huo-lun-che (fire- wheel-cart), the

THBEE MAIN ROUTES. 199

quaint designation by which the railway train is
known to Celestials. As this question is fully dis-
cussed in a later chapter, it is unnecessary to dwell
upon it here.

One of the main points to be studied in examining
the future of any country, whether from the com-
mercial, military, or administrative point of view, is
that of its commimication. The subject of roads
cannot but lead to that of influence and privilege.

The area under discussion is traversed by three
main routes — two of major and one of minor im-
portance. All three start from An-si-chou on the
Kansu border, and run west to the Russian fix>ntier.
As far as Hami the two northern tracks have to-
gether formed the great north - west road from
Peking. At Hami, which town stands ten stages'
distance across the desert from An-si-chou, they
bifurcate. After dividing, the northern branch is
known as the Tian Shan Pei-zu, or north road. This
runs from Hami via Urumtsi, the capital of Chinese
Turkestan, to Kuldja, close to the Russian frontier.
Urumtsi is always known to the Chinese as Hoong
Miaotzu, or the Red Temple, from the fact that
there is a notable temple there.

Kuldja was well known in Europe at the time of
the Yakub Beg rising, being then occupied, as was
the whole of Di, by Russian troops. On account of
its geographical situation it may not improbably be
heard of again, though whether as once more con-
taining a Russian garrison, or as one of the new
defensive outposts of a regenerated China, time
alone will show.

The other branch of the two main routes is called

200 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HABCO POLO.

the Tian Shan Nan-lu, or south roacL This runs
west from Hami along the northern border of the
central desert to Kashgar, passing through towns
and oases of varying importance, the chief of which
are Karasha, Ak-su, and Marah Bashi.

The third and little used of the main routes, after
quitting An-si-chou, runs south of the Takla Makan
desert along the lower spurs of the Kuen Lun main
range, at a height of between 4000 and 8000 feet
above sea-leveL This track also divides into two
at Cherchen, a well-to-do oasis 200 miles west of
Lopnor. From Cherchen, one branch runs direct
through the desert to Kiria, and the other to the
same town, but along the northern base of the Kuen
Lun. After uniting at Kiria these two tracks lead
on as one to Yarkand, Kashgar, and the Bussian
frontier.

So much for the lateral communications which
traverse the Hsing Chiang, but we must not omit to
notice that these three routes are also connected
across the desert from north to south by lesser cross
tracks. The most important of these is a caravan
track between Urumtsi and Chakalik, which runs
vid Karasha and Korla down the Taria river past
Lopnor.

The second cross communication is maintained
between Khotan and Ak-su, where a track follows
the Khotan river in about twenty-three marches to
the latter place.

Having dealt with the interior routes traversing
Chinese Turkestan, a few words may be said of some
of the most important roads which lead out of, or
into, that country.

ENTRANCE AND EGRESS. 201

1. The first, though perhaps the least important,
except to us as a nation, is that from India vid
Leh and the Karakoram pass, by which most of
the communication, and all such trade as there
is, passes to India. An alternative route to this,
but one seldom used, is that vid Gilgit, Hunza,
and Tashkurgan.

2. The second is the main road connecting
Elastem or Chinese with Western or Russian
Turkestan, which from Kashgar follows the
Eizil-su over the Terek pass across the fix)ntier
to Osh.

3. The third is a caravan route from Ak-su up
the river of the same name over the Tian Shan
mountains, thence across the Kussian frontier vid
Issikul, to join the present post -road, and future
railway line, at Pish Pek.

4. The fourth is the continuation, west, of the
Tian Shan north road, which leads up the Hi river,
over the Kussian frontier, on to the post -road be-
tween Vernoe and Eopal. It may be of interest
to state that in the coiu*se of a journey through
Central Asia, made in 1902, I passed through Pish
Pek and Vernoe. The country surrounding the
latter place is as rich an agricultural district as
could be desired. No finer country for colonisation
exists than some that will be traversed by the new
Tash-Kent-Omsk railway ; yet why do we hear of
new and extended schemes for settling such in-
hospitable and far-away regions as East Siberia or
the Amur country?

5. The fifth of the exterior main routes leading
into Chinese Turkestan is in some ways the most

202 IN THE FOOTSTBPS OF MARCO POLO.

important, for it connects Chakalik, near Lopnor,
with Lhasa.

From Lhasa to Chakalik the journey can be made
in two months by well - mounted travellers, — the
usual time occupi^ by the many pUgrims who pass
that way is three months.

Between Urumtsi, the capital of Chinese Turke-
stan, and Peking on the east is a space of some
2000 miles. Of this distance, at the present
moment, not one mile is linked by rail, although
it is hoped that Si-an Fu in Lhemi may soon be
thus connected with Peking. The great highway
connecting Chinese Turkestan with the capital is
throughout most of its length a mere track, which
passes over a succession of rugged passes as high, in
the case of the Wu-shi-ling, the best known, as
10,000 feet. A road, in the European sense of the
word, it is not. For hundreds of miles it is merely
a track, worn throughout twenty centuries by the
wheels of countless Chinese carts, untouched from
year to year, unless rendered actually impassable,
owing to climatic disturbances : such is the only
communication uniting this far dependency with
Peking. To the west Urumtsi stands within 400
miles of the Russian border, with which it is con-
nected, as already stated, by the Tian Shan north
road. Beyond this frontier the lines of modem
railway made, and in the making, which connect
European Russia with Chinese Turkestan, are too
well known to require to be mentioned here.

Having endeavoured to indicate briefly the
present general aspect of the communications
which unite Chinese Turkestan with the outside

CHINESE TURKESTAN AND INDIA. 203

world, let us now turn to another connection which
has strong claims to attention.

Among those who have devoted time to a study
of the area under review, it is well known how
intimately connected in the past Chinese Turkestan
was with India. But by people less interested this
important point is not perhaps fully realised. It is
a matter of history, to which reference has already
been made in a previous chapter, that it was from
our great Asiatic dependency that the teachings of
Buddha first entered China. It was also from the
same direction that the early Graeco- Buddhist art,
relics of which Dr Stein has been chiefly instru-
mental in disinterring, reached Chinese Turkestan :
and we now also know without any doubt that it
was from Northern India that the western end of
this area was at one period colonised, and in addi-
tion received a language, a literature, and a script.
The first reliable evidence of this latter was dis-
covered by Colonel Bowen in his well-known find
of birch-bark leaves in 1900, and since that date
Dr Stein has largely increased the debt owed to
him by all students of Central Asian history and
archaeology by other and even more valuable dis-
coveries.

At what exact date intercommunication between
China and India first took place is still a debatable
question. Chinese records place the event about
100 years B.C., when commercial relations with
Shintu, or Thianchu, as India was first called by
them, are on record.

Sir Henry Yule, however, gives reasons for sup-
posing that the Hindoos knew the Chinas, as they

204 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

were called in the laws of M&nu» as degenerate
Kshatriyas, centuries before the date assigned by
the Chinese themselves. Pauthier, in his edition of
Marco Polo, also says ''that people from India
passed into Shensi, the westernmost part of China,
more than 1000 years before our era, and at that
time founded a state named Tsin, the same word
as our China."

The story of the actual introduction of Buddhism
into the latter country has already been told, and is
not without interest, for Chinese Turkestan was the
channel through which it flowed.

After having dwelt somewhat fully upon the
introduction of Buddhism into China, the question
may naturally be asked. What effect has this had
upon the moral wellbeing of the millions who have
at various periods professed its obligations ? Ethic-
ally one of the purest and most elevated forms of
religion the world has known, it was at one time
the state religion of China. That it may in its
early form have answered the purpose of a moral
force is probably true. That it does so now I am
afraid is not the case. In the present day it retains
no inward vitality, nor is it a religion any longer in
the broadest meaning of that word. Impossible,
even impertinent as it may seem, to attempt to
judge the hidden forces which guide the conduct of
an alien race, there is no room for such an imputa-
tion here. If religion means anything it means
some moral force by which men shape their daily
conduct through life, one which is sufficiently strong
to enable the willing spirit to overcome the weak
flesh. Can it be maintained that Buddhism in

CHINESE ADMINISTRATION. 205

China still retains this power? I fear not. In-
teresting as it might be to follow the gradual
decay of this almost divine fSedth, it is beyond the
scope of this chapter.

Present-day administration in Chinese Turkestan
varies little fix)m that in force in China proper,
except that for the headmen of villages, so great
a factor in Chinese rural organisation, Begs and
native heads of tribes are substituted.

Wise in their generation, the Chinese are content
to supervise and control, leaving to their own chiefs
the immediate government of the home life of village
communities and that of nomad tribes. As men-
tioned previously, the centre of administration is at
Urumtsi, where the Fu-tai, or governor, resides.

Below the governor are three Tao-tai, intendants
of circuit, who are stationed at Kashgar, Ak-su, and
Kuldja.

Lower again in the ofBcial scale come the
Ambans, answering to district magistrates. At-
tached to all these ofBciak is the army of clerks,
interpreters, and functionaries, always considered
necessary to uphold the dignity of magisterial life
in China.

The alx>ve officials constitute that portion of the
administration which is in the hands of Chinese.
Under them again are the actual working heads in
touch with the people, and these are all natives of
the dominion. The most important in rank are the
Begs, heads of districts, for they are the respons-
ible go-betweens where the administration and the
natives come in contcu^t.

Under the Begs, where necessary, come the tribal

206 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

headmen, such as the Ming bashis, heads of
thousands ; Yuz bashis, heads of hundreds ; and
On bashis, heads of tens.

In addition to the civil officials, there are also
miUtary commandants, of grades according to the
size of the garrison they command.

Unlike those who serve in China proper, who are
rarely allowed to remain more than three years in
one place, both civil and military officials have
usually served most of their time in Chinese
Turkestan.

The civU magistrates appear to be drawn from
no particular ^ of CMnTDuring the course of
our journey throughout the southern portion of
the dominion we met men who by birth came
from Honan, Hunan, and Hupeh.

Of intercoiu*se, other than what is absolutely
necessary, between Chinese and native officials, we
found no trace.

The former look with undisguised disdain upon
the latter, whom they invariably refer to contempt-
uously as ch'ant'oUy turban-headed. The manner
assumed by an Amban in speaking to his native
entourage would, if used by an Englishman to a
native in India, be described at least as "uncon-
ciliatory " ; by the native press, probably in far
stronger terms. The Ambans either did not or
pretended not to understand a word of Turki.
Considering that many of them had spent the
greater portion of their lives in the dominion, this
can be attributed only to a wilful desire to keep
aloof from all intercourse with the subject - race.
Judged by our own method of treating Asiatics,

" CASH." 207

this must tend to weaken the central authority, by
preventing mutual understanding. It is, however,
open to argument whether such a method is not
more suited to subject Eastern races not highly
developed. There would seem to be occasions in
our own dealings with Asiatics when we are prone
to sacrifice the authority while drawing no nearer
to the mutual understanding. The curious point
in the Chinese administration of Eastern Turkestan
is in the financial arrangements which provide in
a far-off dependency a regular monetary system,
with coinage complete, while withholding any such
system fix>m China itself.

The question of currency in the latter country
has long been calculated to drive the would-be
reformer to despair.

It is unnecessary now to do more than call to
mind that in the interior of China to-day there is no
current coinage. The medium of all barter is the
tael, a weight of silver, not a coin. For the masses,
copper " cash " of various degrees of debasement are
coined by provincial mints. These circulate within
confined limits all over China, but for trade pur-
poses and for travellers, lumps of solid silver are
still a necessity. In Chinese Turkestan, on the
contrary, the system is, comparatively speaking,
modem, though not simple. They have there a
common coin answering to the dollar of the China
coast. This coin is the miskal, which circulates in
one, two, or three miskal pieces. These have the
appearance of a clumsily made florin. Ten miskal
are equal to about 3s. Other monetary terms are
used, though there are no equivalent coins, such

208 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARC50 POLO.

as the pung, equal to five copper Chinese cash, and
the tengeh, eight of which go to one sar, which
latter is also worth about 3s. Copper cash of
Chinese pattern {ta-chien or man-chien, as they
are called) and yamba, large silver shoes worth
about £7, 10s., also circulate — the former among
the poorer natives, the latter only among the
wealthy merchants.

It is no easy matter to state definitely the
system of taxation in any Eastern country, especi-
ally where Chinese administration is in force ; but
the basis of the one in use in Chinese Turkestan
is that of a capitation tax, with certain tithes upon
produce.

We were unable to ascertain the amount of the
capitation tax with absolute exactitude, but such
information as could be obtained shows that it is
levied in sums varying from 5d. to Ud. per male
head only. With regard to the tithes, the follow-
ing lump sums were given as specimen payments,
and may be of interest, although not tabulated : —

At Polu, a well-to-do village situated on the
northern slopes of the Kuen Lun mountains, 2000
tengeh (about £37) is paid per annum as taxes
to the Chinese Amban at Kiria. At Cherchen,
the fairly rich oases already alluded to, 8000
tengeh (about £150) is the annual land tax
chargeable to the revenue. In addition to this
sum, an amount equal to 4000 tengeh (£75) is
paid by the shepherds and nomads of the sur-
rounding district. As if this were not enough,
incredible as it may sound, the townspeople are
subjected to still another tax. I was assured by

'^^^B amban's "squeeze." 209

vmooB ^ ^^ in the bazar, under solemn pledge
ot Becx^y* that the Amban took for his own
"aquee^ ^^o tengeh out of every ten tengeh
worth of goods sold on market-days in the bazar.
As this BUm represents roughly 9d. out of every
4s., it is apparent that even an Amban must live,
and that right well.

The industries of Chinese Turkestan are few at
present, and of little except local importance. Of
those that might become more widely known, the
chief is mining, next the wool industry, the skin
trade, and last, cotton-growing. Of minerals this
area holds a good quantity. The gold industry
has already been described. Whether the mining,
which now proceeds in the prehistoric manner we
saw at Sorghack, could be made to pay by the
introduction of Western methods, I am not able
to say. The presence in that district of two
American gentlemen who hailed from the vicinity
of Chicago leads me to suppose that expert opinion
upon the subject will soon be available.

In addition to gold, copper, iron, and jade are all
worked in more or less remunerative quantitie&
Should the time ever arise, as I believe it will,
when the attention of the Chinese or foreigners is
turned to the development of the mineral wealth
of this outlying dominion upon European lines,
scientific exploration and the exploiting of its
results in a modem manner might lead to a
large increase in the revenue derived from Chinese
Turkestan.

If this opinion be endorsed by time, one of the
difficulties to be met in the early stages will be

210 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

that of labour. Both naturally and by environ-
ment, the Turki is either pastoral or agricultural
in his habits. In disposition he is lazy and with-
out ambition, oontent to exist, provided he can do
so at no great personal inconvenience. Excluding
the inhabitants of Polu, the natives engaged in the
gold-mining industry are of a lower type than those
remaining as cultivators in the oases. Nor are
there sufficient good labourers to meet a large
increase. In the event of a European reorganisa-
tion of the mining industry, it would, in aU prob-
abiUty, be found more advantageous to import
Chinese labour.

The military organisation of Chinese Turkestan
is rather wori thS in most parts of China at the
present day. Putting on one side the new foreign-
drilled army n\u*sed by the well-known Viceroy,
Yuan Shih Eai, in the vicinity of the capital, the
remainder of the Imperial forces scattered through-
out the various provinces are still quite ineffective —
that is, should they be called upon to meet European
troops.

In spite of what has lately been heard of the
high pitch to which Yuan Shih Kai's men have
been trained, I have no hesitation in saying that
even they, unless officered by Japanese or mixed
with Japanese troops, would make a poor show
against good European soldiers.

From Kiria in Chinese Turkestan to Tai Yuan
Fu in Shansi province, 250 miles from Peking,
altogether a distance of some 2000 miles, includ-
ing such towns as Su-chou, Kan-chou, Liang-chou,
and Lan-chou, no soldiers were seen either in

CHINESE GARRISONS. 211

numbers, quality, or armament that a single foreign
brigade with field artillery oould not account for.
In Tiu'kestan, such garrisons as there are occupy
either small forts in the vicinity of the towns, or
the towns themselves. The latter are usually built
on the lines of a Chinese city with, in some cases,
the addition of a surrounding moat. The gar-
risons vary in nominal numbers fix>m the 3000 at
Urumtsi to a few score at such places as Toksu,
Korla, and the frontier post of Tashkurgan towards
the Pamirs. In (xcttud numbers they vary still
more. At Kiria the Amban himself informed me
that the garrison consisted of one liang of in&ntry,
500 men, and some morjnng^ cavalry. No dis*
courtesy to him is intended when I say that after
being there three days I do not think there were
fifty men all told.

At Chakalik the same story was again repeated.
Putting the actual number of Chinese troops gar-
risoning Eastern Turkestan at 8000, it may safely
be inferred that barely 5000 would be found
present on an emergency. And of these 5000,
a medical inspection upon European lines would
suffice to cast 50 per cent for old age, opium-
smoking, and other causes. Were Chinese official
statements as to the number of troops present
accepted as facts, no doubt the garrisons would
be put at 15,000 or 20,000 well-armed men. The
troops who form the garrisons are drawn chiefly
from the provinces of Hunan and Hupeh. Spend-
ing as they do years in one place, the men eventu-
ally deteriorate even more than their provincial
brethren in arms in China proper.

212 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

Of local Turki troops there are none, nor would
they make soldiers under Chinese instruction.

The internal political relations of Chinese Turk-
estan are probably in as close touch with Peking
as are those in such far-away provinces as the
Kwantung. Yunan. or Sze-chua^ During the
course of our journey a considerable number of
officials were met with on the great north-west
road which traverses Kansu province. These were
either proceeding to or returning from Urumtsi.
The telegraph line from Peking to Kashgar is the
one outward sign of Imperial interest which East-
em Turkestan enjoys. It is kept in repair, well-
staffed, and in good working order. In addition
to the telegraph, the Imperial courier post still
survives. By it the transfer of information or
special orders is extraordinarily rapid An Im-
perial despatch, wrapped in the well-known yellow
silk and tied round the waist of a succession of
mounted couriers, will reach Liang-chou in Kansu
province under nineteen days from Peking. The
time usually taken for the same journey by well-
equipped travellers is forty-three days.

The external political relations of the depend-
ency are confined by geographical necessity to two
foreign Powers. From the situation of Chinese
Turkestan this will, in all probability, always be
the case. Of the two Powers it should be appar-
ent, even to Celestial obtuseness, that from Kussia
there is everything to fear, from England nothing.
Yet the closest scrutiny is necessary before any
sign can be observed that this fact is realised.
Before proceeding to discuss the present position

RUSSIAN DOMINATION. 213

of these two Powers in the area under notice, it
may not be amiss to glance for a moment at their
importance as apparent to natives on the spot.

The visible authority of Russia is for ever held
prominently before the eyes of the inhabitants,
both in the position occupied by the Consul-Gen-
eral at Kashgar, and by that of his colleague at
Urumtsi. The very real local power exercised by
these two officials is made to appeal to Asiatic
notions of authority in its most practical form
when required — viz., that of force. On the other
hand, the position occupied by the British repre-
sentative at Kashgar is looked upon by those who
are accustomed to compare such details, where they
never cease to be discussed, as inferior in every
way. There may possibly be sufficient reasons for
the continuation of this state of affairs, but they
are not apparent to the man on the spot. How-
ever good they may seem to be at a distance,
few who have travelled in Chinese Turkestan,
or who possess even an elementary acquaintance
with Asiatic methods of thought, will agree with
them.

Though no direct reference has hitherto been
made to the neglect on the part of China to safe-
guard her most distant colony, the fact cannot be
overlooked in any allusions to Chinese Turkestan.

There are two reasons which suggest themselves
for the apparent apathy of the Imperial govern-
ment. The first is that it is aware of the hope-
less nature of the task should it endeavour to take
the necessary precautions. The second, and prob-
ably the true one, is that it is too apathetic, and.

214 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF KABCO POLO.

having been accustomed for so long a period to
trust to the forbearance of its neighbours, will
not now arouse itself

It may also be that the retrocession of the Ili
province in 1882, after its temporary occupation
by Russian troops, may have helped to lull Chinese
suspicions. Be the reason what it may, there is
no slight chance that the future will bring forth
a rude awakening. It is acknowledged that Russia
holds Chinese Turkestan in the hollow of her hand,
and with no intention whatever to suggest inune-
diate or even likely action on the part of those
who guide the Asiatic policy of that nation, it
may be of interest to indicate future possibilities.

In the event of any such action being taken as
the absorption of Chinese Turkestan, it is probable
that Russia might be content merely to overawe at
first Kashgaria and IlL The former territory was
still considered as belonging to the Kokhandian
Khanate after the Russian conquest at Kokhand
in 1864. The Mohammedans there did in fact
pay tribute, amounting to some thousands of pounds
a-year, and such a gradual advance would be more
in keeping with traditional Russian policy. The
aim of those answerable for that policy has always
been to secure as far as possible the toleration
of the Mohammedan element in previous Central
Asian conquests, for, as they are well aware, in
the feelings entertained for Russia by the faithful
lies one of the chief dangers of Russian expansion
in Asia. It is difficult to say if we ourselves suffer
in less degree from the same feeling at the hands
of Mussulmans. It is usual to suggest that we do,

POLITICAL CX>MPLICATI0N8. 215

— partly on account of the well-known toleration
shown for the religious feelings of all our subject
Asiatic races, more perhaps on account of the
facUities provided under government auspices for
the millions of devotees who make the pQgrimage
to Mecca from our Eastern possessions.

In discussing the political relations of Chinese
Turkestan it is unavoidable not to include in any
such review those of the neighbouring territories
which border that country. The future of Tibet
is another eventuality which cannot but affect the
political relations of Chinese Turkestan with who-
ever is the dominant power at Lhasa.

Although at the present moment China is once
more acknowledged to be in full possession of her
authority at the capital, it is impossible to say how
long it may be before fresh schemes for upsetting
that authority may not be set on foot. Last time
the efforts of Dorjieff the Buriat were sufficiently
near to being successful to give cause to ponder
what the sequel might have been had an open
adoption of the wishes of the Dalai Lama been
forc^ upon the Tibetan council It does not
require much prescience to suggest that the
triumph of the pro-Russian party in Tibet would
probably have been followed at no remote date
by the proclamation of a Russian protectorate
over Chinese Turkestan. In whatever form
Russian interests were displayed, the results
would have been most serious to ourselves, even
though no open attempt were made to enter
Tibet. In drawing attention to some of the more
interesting questions connected with the future

216 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

of the area under discussion, no attempt is made to
suggest novelty. None of these questions are new :
all have been possibilities ever since Kokhand was
absorbed by Russia rather over thirty years ago,
but there has been a perhaps unconscious n^lect
of Chinese Turkestan as a factor in Central Asian
politics. Events which have happened during the
last few years in the Far East have recast most
of the political problems which they affect, and it
behoves those interested to reconsider their own
judgments and opinions in the light of the entirely
new perspective through which these problems must
be viewed.

There is one point which cannot be too strongly
insisted upon when we remember very recent events
both in Manchuria and Tibet, and that is, the
danger of reckoning upon either the intention or
ability of the present Chinese Government to carry
out its undertakings.

Recent utterances, both in the press and verbally,
in Imperial Chinese edicts are calculated to inspire
confidence that at last the Golden Age has come,
and that China has arrived at the point when she
may be left alone to safeguard her own and foreign
interests both at home and abroad.

Nothing could be more opposed to facts, and
unless due precautions are taken to safeguard the
interests of individual nations, instead of trusting
to Chinese authority to do so, we, for one, may find
ourselves severely handicapped when the occasion
for action suddenly arises.

Before concluding this chapter I would like to
lay before my readers two points of view bearing.

THE DAWN OF A NEW AREA. 217

though indirectly, on the future of Chinese Turk-
estan. Concerning neither do I propose to offer
any opinion ; at the same time, both are worthy
of earnest consideration. From the first point of
view : there are to-day distinct signs that a more
hopeful era is about to dawn in Asia, heralded
perhaps by an Anglo-Russian entente. Few political
movements would be more welcome to those in-
terested in the East, but we may not forget that
international agreements, though a sign of mutual
goodwill, are not binding for all time. And now
for the second point of view. In defending the
increased military expenditure in India as late as
March 1906, the present Viceroy made the following
remarks in answer to protests by a member of his
Council against any increased expenditure. This
member was a well-known native gentleman. ''I
am afraid," said the Viceroy, *' I cannot follow the
honourable member in his conclusion that these,
dangers, our Asiatic differences with Russia and
the dismemberment of China, have disappeared for
ever. He has told us that the tide of European
aggression in China has been rolled back for good,
that the power of Russia has been broken, and that
her prestige in Asia has gone.

'' I am afraid these are mere assumptions, which
I can hardly accept. I am afraid I feel much more
impelled to consider what effect the Russian re-
verses may have on the pride of a high-spirited
military race, and I wonder in how long or how
short a time she may feel confident of recovering
her lost prestige."

218

CHAPTER XI.

8ACHU — MARCO POIX/S ACCURACY — A HOBFITARLE RRCEPTION — THS
INTRODUCTION OF WESTERS IDEAS — THE TEMPTATION OF LUMF-
SUOAR — A DISPLAY OF MARKSMANSHIP — CHINESE CARTS — ^A NERVS-
8HAEINO ORDEAL — A DECAYING TOWN — STREET-STALL BARGAININO
— THE INTRICACIES OF PAYMENT EY "CASH" — SILVER SHOES —
MOHAMMEDAN RISINGS — IN THE TRACK OF WAR — COMFORTLESS
LIVES — A MUD-ERICK FORT.

Sachu (literally sand district) is the most advanced
western outpost that China possesses, and the town
is said to date from the first centmy A.D. In those
remote days the city was a fortified post planted to
keep in order the marauding Huns, always a terror
to China. From about the seventh century it has
been known as Sachu — the original and only name
by which the town is locally known is T'ung Huang.
According to Palladius, in the time of the Emperor
Kien Lung the district was colonised on a vast
scale, and as late as 1830 it numbered about
100,000 inhabitants. Marco Polo refers to it as
the point of arrival after thirty days spent in cross-
ing the desert, and if in the present century any
further proof of the extraordinary general accuracy
of this renowned traveller were necessary, it is of
interest to note that the same journey occupied us
twenty -nine days. The town is described by

AN UNPREPOSSESSINO BODYGUAKD. 219

Marco Polo as situated in the province of Tangut.
This wsB the name of an independent kingdom, to
which reference hsB already been made in an earlier
chapter. It comprised, so far as is known, a consid-
erable portion of North-Western China, corners of
Mongolia, of Eastern Tibet, and of Chinese Turke-
stan. It supported for many years a local dynasty
known to the Chinese as Hsi Hsia, which flourished
during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. T'ung
Huang, to give the town its proper name, stands on
the right bank of the Tiang Ho, a river flowing
north from the lower ranges which reach on the
south to within seven miles of the city. It has
already been said that the first view was an im-
posing one, and after visiting such so-called towns
as Chakalik, Cherchen, and Kiria, this is not to be
wondered at. Further inspection, however, in no
way lowers this impression, and in the well-to-do
appearance of its inhabitants the town will bear
comparison with any this side of Liang-chou.

T'ung Huang boasts both outer and inner walls
which enclose an area 1000 by 800 yards square.
The inner are 30 feet high with towers every 50
yards, affording good flank defence. The walls
are solidly constructed of mud -bricks and are 20
feet thick. There is one double gateway in each
of the outer walls and at right angles to it. The
gateways are equally strong, and are closed by
massive wooden gates clamped with iron. The
inner walls enclose a kind of sanctuary, inside
which are the yamen and all the official buildings.
The garrison is nominally one regiment 500 strong,
with some cavalry, but neither are in any sense of

220 IN THE FOaXBTEPS OF XABOO POLO.

th^ word soldiers, nor do the fbU numbers exist.
We had five told off for our personal use, nominally
as a guard. They were, with one exception, con-
firmed opium-smokers, and on their first appear-
ance not prepossessing. When they began to
understand that they were there to do some
work, and not for appearance sake, they served us
as useful hewers of wood and drawers of water.

Our reception by the local magistrate was most
cordial, as was the treatment we received through-
out the course of our stay. After the first official
call the magistrate repeatedly visited our house in
his private capacity, bringing with him on several
occasions his one child, a prepossessing little girl
of seven with unbound feet. Not the least shy,
she had, even at that age, the charming manners
usually found in the educated classes in China,
and, while her £Bither drank numerous cups of tea,
and amused himself by asking many and most
intelligent questions concerning our journey and
Western ways, the little maid played about and
ate the last of our chocolate. Not the least of
our indebtedness to the magistrate was due to his
kindness in causing some of the local merchants
to exchange Chinese silver for our remaining rupees.
The question of money is invariably a difficulty
when travelling away from the beaten track. So
far it had been imperative to carry rupees ; and the
fact of having a yakdan full of silver is in itself an
unfair temptation to those whose ideas of meum and
tuum are not based on civilised standards. At Kiria
we had been able to get rid of some of our rupees,
and here again we were able to barter more.

WANTED I — A WATCHMAKER. 221

The Chinese New Year festivities were abready
in fuU swing at the date of our arrival at Tung
Huang. At this season work of any kind is alto-
gether abhorrent to the Chinese; so our friendly
reception by, and constant intercourse with, the
chief magistrate were all the more marked.

It may be as well to state, once for all, that I
received at T'ung Huang an impression never after-
wards effaced during the remainder of our progress
through China. This was that, with a few local
exceptions, Chinese officials remote £rom the poison-
ous influence of the capital are not only expecting
the coming of Western ideas and practice, but are
eager and anxious that these should come. But of
this more anon. The oasis surrounding the city
is a fertile country, which, besides providing for
the wants of Tung Huang, sends its agricultural
products to support An-si-chou and other less
prosperous towns farther east. Of trade there
is a considerable amount, if we remember that
the situation of the town makes it to all intents
and purposes a cut -de -sac. To us, one of the
most welcome signs of the adoption of European
ways lay in the fact that we could buy American
cigarettes, which were on sale in the streets.
Articles of cheap German manufacture, such as
buttons, needles, and suchlike, were also offered
for sale; and it was gratifying to find that the
well-known British house of Ilbert & Co. of
Shanghai was represented by their cotton goods.

A small fortune awaits a working watchmaker
at Tung Huang, and his time would be more than
fully occupied. It was a surprise to find so many

js THE Focnsisn or maboo fdlo.

Chinese in pwHrBHirw of wmtcbes^ but nc^ that
most of them required mpnding after seeing the
treatmoit these lidicmte artides reeeired bom their
inquisitive owners^ There is a thiiring ookmy dT
Aiwiynk^ who have a htfge serai in a small quarter
of their own. The chief artides sold fay them are
BnsBJan ironware, faasEDS, mngs, and so fixlh,
common fan^t-ccJoared cottons, and dieap doth
materials. They also do a fiurly large trade in
skinsu Th^ house in the jrrai, which is above
the local levd cf ccxnfiMrt, was distinguished by
glass windows and an iron stove cf Russian pattern
whidi boms coaL The chief magistrate had so
£sur wisely adopted dvilised customs, fc^* he also
possessed a duplicate stove which greatly added
to the comfort of his otherwise chilly Chinese re-
c^rtion-room. Coal in small quantities is brought
bom the mountains to the south of the city.

Our first visit, after settling down into the
quarters provided, was to the chief magistrate,
and we found him, surrounded by the usual crowd
of hangers-on, about to receive the New Year calls
of all the minor officials. Unwilling to intrude,
we endeavoured to postpone our call, but this was
not at all in accordance with the hospitable feel-
ings of our friend. He made us come in and sit
down while tea was got ready. When it appeared,
an amusing incident happened, which, though
against the writer, honesty compels him to relate.
It is well known that one of the cravings most
difficult to satisfy, to a person accustomed to wine
and suddenly deprived of it, is that for something
sweet. Any one who has for a length of time been

STOLEN SWEETS. 223

in the habit of taking sugar with tea is also aware
of the craving which ensues if the habit has to be
broken. Now, not only is the writer habituated to
wine, but he must also plead guilty to being fond of
sweet things, and the deprivation of both for some
time past had been severely felt. Wine we had
not intended to use, but the saccharine tabloids,
which we had hoped would last until they could
be replaced, had also given out. On the appear-
ance of our host's tea, served of course in Chinese
fashion, we were most agreeably aurpriBed to see
among the little dishes which usually accompany
the ceremony some of lump sugar. That it was
Russian, and imported £rom the West, mattered
little. Lump after lump began to disappear both
in our tea and as plain bon-bons; and so easily
cure the habits of civilisation cast aside, that on our
host leaving us for a minute upon business, I could
not resist the temptation to pocket half a dozen
lumps. Being temporarily alone, I fondly imagined
that my greed had passed unnoticed, but I reckoned
without thinking of the prying eyes never absent
from the various peepholes in the paper partitions
and windows of a Chinese room. After remaining
an hour, during which time our host changed into
various garments, each finer than the last, in order
to do honour to his local guests, we departed.
This dressing and undressing was as good as any
play, for it was made in full view of his own
establishment, who, to the tune of eight or nine
dressers, took a lively interest therein, and of our-
selves. As we rose to go, another retainer stepped
forward and ceremoniously handed to his master a

224 vs THE woaaan cm mamx> fduk

small pad^et. Tomizig to me with a smfle, the
magktn^e asked, without a trace oi malice, was
I £Dfid of sogar, and woold I accept this small
present to taht awayf I hesitated gmltilj fcx a
moment, but Layard's loud laughter made the
confession easj, and there and th^i I disbordened
mj conscience, much to the amusement of the old
gentl^nan, who must hare known all the time^

Although Tung Huang is not within the bound-
aries of China proper, tiie country surrounding it
to the north and east is sufficiently civilised to
boast roads. True, they are moely Chinese roads ;
but they enable the traveller to make use of carts,
also to do without a caravan of animals ; and the
trade of carter is both a recognised and a lucrative
one. Thanks to the magistrate, we were soon able
to arrange to hire what we required to take us to
An-si-chou ; but the disposal of the remains of our
own caravan was not so easy. For the few days
of our stay the yard at the back of our house
was full of would-be purchasers, but for the most
part curiosity and the holidays accounted for their
presence. Our guns and rifles were as ever a
source of interest, and nothing would satisfy the
magistrate but a public display. In the middle
of one of his many calls, after he had been admir-
ing the guns and trying to understand the way
they worked and the use of the cartridges, he
suddenly invited me to step outside. Now, in
another country this might have been taken as
a prelude to something more exciting than the
killing of a few pigeons ; but by this time we
were fast friends, and, knowing what the magis-

AN EXHIBITION OF MARKSBiANSHIP. 225

trate required, I prepared to give him as good a
performance as my inferior skill and the pigeons
would allow. Our house stood at one comer of
the inner city wall, and on the latter was a
picturesque turret whose overhanging curved roof
was a favourite roosting - place for the scores of
semi -wild birds which hovered over the town.
Accompanied by our host and his friends, and
followed by a large crowd of the townsfolk, we
sallied forth, and I took up a position not too
far from the walL Hardly had the crowd time
to understand what they were about to see before
Layard had put the pigeons up, and as the leaders
swimg over the city wall I took the first pair.
To our relief, and to the huge delight of the
crowd, down they both tumbled, — one inside the
wall, the other almost at our host's feet Having
seen the efiect of a gun, nothing would satisfy
the latter but a second display with the rifle.
Though we assured him that neither the place
nor the surroundings were at all safe, he airily
waived all objections aside; and seeing that he
was bent upon having his own way, we thought
it better to accommodate him. Sending to the
house for the lid of a box, we made an extempore
target against the city wall, hoping that the wall
would turn out as solid as it appeared to be. As
I withdrew a hundred yards to shoot, Layard, by
way of amusing the crowd, took a cap from the
head of one of them and placed it in the centre
of the board. The owner appeared rather flattered
than otherwise at this attention, and stood smiling
by while our preparations were made. As soon

226 IX THE F0019IEP8 OF XASOO POLa

as the range bad been cleared, I fired. Now a
•500 expresB bullet is a somewhat killing {vcgeedle
eren at longer ranges : fired at 100 yards distance
into a cap and a soft board, the reenlt may easier
be imagined than described. Again the crowd
applauded loudly, — all save the owner of the cap,
who now rushed forward to retrieve what re-
mained, amid the jeers of all his firiends. Luckily
in China reparation is easily made in the shape
of ''cash/' a full handftd representing a few
pence. With these the owner of the mutilated
headgear soon retired, probably to become ever
after the hero of the foreigners' visit

In spite of the delay incidental to the New
Year feastings, after three days all was ready
for a fresh start. While at T'ung Huang we
got rid of all unnecessary baggage, and it was
with a much curtailed kit that we loaded up the
two carts we had hired to take us to An-si-chou.
The Chinese cart is pre-eminently for use, not
for show. The two we had were of the usual
rude kind, but solidly put together, and, though
guiltless of springs, capable of standing any amount
of knocking about; also, which was equally im-
portant, of carrying the still somewhat large amount
of yakdans, gear, instruments, &c., which we could
not do without. The carts were not the well-
known narrow Pekin ones, but had the broad
gauge six-foot axle. The roof of the cart, sides,
back, and front, if the traveller so desires, are
covered with thick matting, forming ample shelter
in all weather, and affording a certain amount of
warmth and protection from the severe cold and

CHINESE CABTS. 227

biting winds of that upland country. Horsed by
three ponies or mules, and driven as only Chinese
carters can drive these unruly brutes, the rate of
progress is about two-and-a-hidf miles to three miles
an hour. The system of travel in vogue on the
great north-west road is to start about 5 or 6 p.m.,
then to drive all night and as far into the follow-
ing day as is necessary to cover each particular
stage. A more uncomfortable and senseless fashion
could not have been invented, nor could any but
Chinese, whose nerves are conspicuous by their
absence, make such journeys. To be jolted and
bumped for twelve or even sixteen hours at a
stretch, day after day for three or four months
on end, is beyond the capacity of most Europeans
to stand. Yet such is the fate of all whom duty
or the emperor's fiat may send to make the journey
from Peking to the Hsing Chiang. Throughout
this weary pilgrimage delicate ladies, and even
little children, are called upon to suffer — if not
the tortures of the damned, at least as good an
imitation of them as this world can provide. True,
sedan-chairs can be used, — though upon this road
they very rarely are, probably owing to the im-
possibility of procuring carriers. So also can
saddle-animals; but the extreme rigoxir of the
winter in the elevated districts through which
the road runs in the far north-west prevents any
one so exposing themselves where there is a choice.
That we preferred to retain ponies to ride was
chiefly in order that we could cover more ground,
or, if necessity or inclination bade us, temporarily
quit the track. In yet another way we declined

228 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

to be bound by Chinese custom, and that was in the
method of making our stages. Much as our carters
pressed us to travel at night, we firmly and once
for all declined. Apart from the discomfort of such
a proceeding in mid- winter, we had not already
travelled so many thousand miles to be led, as it
were, blindfold through China. Our system was
to rise and start as early as the light would allow,
then to travel as long as it continued ; but before
night came on we insisted upon reaching some
shelter. As usual with the Chinese, once con-
vinced that we intended to have our own way,
they very soon adapted themselves to it, and we
had no trouble. In one sense we did occasionally
suffer, and that was by not always being able to
use the recognised stages to halt at. At these
there is usually a choice of inns, though, where
most only varied in the degree of dirt and general
decay, we lost little by having to use the solitary
one found at the places where we halted. Between
Tung Huang and An-si-chou the country is wild
open moorland. On the south - east of the track
the lower spurs of the Nan-shan ranges approach
within six or seven miles. Every twenty-five or
thirty li are unoccupied watch - towers of mud-
brick. To the north a bare plain stretches in
frozen solitude to the horizon. Not a tree nor
a human habitation was to be seen throughout
some of the days' marches. Supplies, of course,
there are none, except at the night's halting-
place ; and then hot water is about all these
provide. In five days we reached An-si-chou.
This is another walled town, but far inferior both

A DECAYED TOWN. 229

in appearance and in the weU*to-do aspect of its
inhabitants to Tung Huang. It is situated on
the main great Chinese north road, which con-
nects Peking with Eashgar; and it owes the
small importance it possesses to being the point
at which travellers must take in supplies before
commencing the ten desert stages to Hami.

Even with these advantages the stamp of decay
lies heavy upon the town, nor does the present
magistrate strike one as likely to make for im-
provement. His yamen was in poor order, and
his city walls likewise, — two things by which the
prosperity of most Chinese towns may be judged.
Besides being cracked and split in several places,
the walls on one side are almost covered by
the drift sand which the wind has piled level
with the top.

We only remained at An-si-chou one day, in
order to Ixurgain for fresh cart-hire. But we were
agreeably surprised when our carters expressed
their willingness to continue with us as far as
Su-chou. The latter town is seventeen days*
march from An-si-chou, and is the first city within
the boundary of China proper. This boundary is
not passed until Chia-yu-kuan is reached. The
latter is a so-called fortress, twenty miles west of
Su-chou, to which reference is made in the next
chapter.

Having concluded our bargain for cart-hire and
made the necessary purchases of meat, vegetables,
bread, and such things as were obtainable, we took
the road for Su-chou. One of the few amusements
during this portion of our journey was found in the

230 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ICAROO POLO.

bargaining at the street stalls while engaged in
our marketing. In China it is necessary, if the
traveller woiild not be mercilessly robbed, to think
in " cash." It may be asked — How is it possible to
think in any other way when making ready-money
purchases ? But the " cash " of China, it must be
remembered, is a definite coin, not a collective
name for money. Among the poverty-stricken
millions who form two-thirds of the population it
is the only coin they ever handle or see. The
actual purchasing value of one Chinese ''cash''
has, I am almost bold enough to afi&rm, never yet
been arrived at by any European. And for the
foUowing reason. The calculation of so many
"cash" (7nan-c^ien = big "cash"), as they are locally
called in North- West Kansu, to the liang-yin-tzu
— anglic^y tael — decides the value of the "cash."
Now the tael, as is universally known, is a
measure of weight, not a coin. And the ratio of
"cash" to the tael is never the same. Not only
does the number of "cash" to the tael vary in
separate towns, but even daily in the same town
if it is a large one. And to add insult to injury,
so far as the calculations of the guileless foreigner
are concerned, two kinds of "cash" are legal — viz.,
large and small "cash." Were it possible to say
how many of each made up one tael, again, the
foreigner, provided he were a financial expert,
might be able to compete. But it is not so.
Custom alone is the guide, and to add the final
straw to the foreigner's already breaking back,
or rather reeling brain, so debased is the copper
coinage of China that " cash " which may be manu-

COUNTING "CASH. 231

factured or found in circulation at one town will
not be accepted as payment by the inhabitants of
the next. The custom is to mix with the man-
chien or torchien^ both meaning the same, big "cash/'
so many small ones or inferior "cash/' but how
many or upon what basis the percentage is calcu-
lated no one but the particular stall-keeper with
whom one is bargaining is prepared to say. Ex-
perience is the only guide and patience the only
weapon to enable one to secure the right to include
many or few. To a poor Chinaman the practice of
this simple virtue is one of the main preoccupa-
tions of an otherwise singularly dull life. To the
European, to be obliged to await this settlement
a dozen times in an hour is maddening, but it is
also the finest training that a weary mortal can
undergo to enable him to obtain that command
over himself which, we are told, is necessary
before he should undertake to rule kingdoms.

A word of warning to future traveUers in this far
country may not be wasted as to the necessity for
most careful examination of the silver which they
carry on the road for larger payments. These
lumps of silver, known as " shoes," vary in value
from about £7 English a -piece to those worth
a few shillings, and are used for more extended
pajrments than the " cash " transactions. All
banks, and many big hongs — merchants' busi-
nesses — keep and supply their own silver shoes,
and, to their credit be it said, these are usually
of standard value. But in the street the lumps
of silver that may come into a buyer's hands,
especially if he be a foreigner, and therefore fair

232 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

game, are not above reproach. We were once
defrauded by being given lumps of lead silvered,
which no one would take again. That the smallest
silver transaction means hours wasted during the
course of a day is nothing to a Chinaman. One
will frequently offer a small piece of silver in
payment for a few sticks of charcoal at a street
shop. It must be weighed, and the change, if in
silver, also. One passes on to buy fresh meat from
a Mohanunedan butcher at the next stall, again
presenting the silver just received, and at the same
time stating its value. " Two liang-yin-tzu ? " says
the butcher. " Not so. This piece is only worth
2000 cash. Where are my scales? Let us see."
Patiently one waits, attempting to calculate ment-
ally from the look of the butcher how much he dare
rob one of. Much weighing and haggling now goes
on, though the result is a foregone conclusion.
"Yin liang, chiu pei chih shih pa" — "One tael,
nine hundred and seventy-eight cash" — sings out
the man with the scales. " Mai pu mai ? " — " Will
you buy or not buy ? " — says the butcher. There
is neither alternative nor appeal ; so, sorrowfully
accepting a dead loss of 300 cash upon the last
transaction, one shoulders one's piece of sheep to
disappear in the crowd. Upon the other hand, the
banking system of this far-away province leaves
little to be desired, while it fully justifies the
reputation for business aptitude and strict honesty
enjoyed by those engaged in that undertaking in
China.

Upon our arrival at Su-chou it was necessary to
obtain money, and although arrangements had been

ASTOUNDINO C50NTRA8T8. 233

made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to
transfer a certain sum to their agents at Lan-chou,
it was uncertain whether any of this money would
be available before reaching Lan-chou.

From An-si-chou I telegraphed to the China
Inland Mission at Lan-chou, asking that the
Chinese agents of the Hong Kong and Shanghai
Bank there might be instructed to forward a
certain sum, to be at Su-chou by the time we
should arrive. Upon reaching the latter town and
inquiring at the telegraph -office for any message,
a telegram was handed to me in which I was in-
formed that it was only necessary to go to a certain
native bank, disclose my identity, and ask for the
sum I required. This I did, and upon signing a
receipt in English the amount was at once handed
to me, weighed out in silver shoes of irreproachable
value. Here, then, is a business transaction which
could not be better executed even in London. Yet
this was not so far from the heart of Asia. Around
us at the time, the life, the people, their ways and
methods, were centuries behind what we in Exu'ope
know, yet in this one particular phase of Chinese
life, a phase be it said which is the be-all and
end-all of Chinese existence — trade — what more
up-to-date arrangements could be desired ? It is
these astounding contrasts, representing the high
and low water-marks in the Chinese character,
which are the despair of all Europeans who desire
to understand them. There would appear to be
nothing that a Chinaman cannot learn to do, and,
moreover, do better than most Europeans. From
running a modem man-of-war, one of the most

234 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

intricate machines human intelligence ever has in-
vented, to washing clothes: who can excel him at
his best ? But European methods he will not have,
and why not ? Some day, perhaps, the secret will
out. Meanwhile, intensely interesting as such
speculations are, it is said by Europeans in China
that that way madness lie&

Between An-si-chou and the frontier of China
proper, the character of the country remains much
the same as that through which we had passed
since T'lmg Huang. At a general height of between
4000 and 5000 feet above sea-level the district is
for the most part wild moorland covered with
tussocky reed -grass, at certain seasons bog for
miles. Though, as it is at mid-winter, covered in
snow, the appearance of the country is naturally
not prepossessing. It would afford in many parts
a fine area for cattle -raising. The soil, generally
speaking, is by no means poor, and the climate very
healthy.

Unfortunately for its future prospects, the Chinese
are eminently an agricultural, not a pastoral, race,
and although many more cattle than is usual in
China were seen, their numbers bore no proportion
to the possibilities of the country.

Dotted sparsely over the land, the villages and
small walled towns form each its own little oasis,
the whole strip of North-West Kansu resembling in
this respect the cultivated belt between the Kuen
Lun and the Takla Makan desert.

From another point of view there is a striking
dissimilarity. It has been said in a previous chapter
that the surroundings of the Turki inhabitants of

MOHAMMEDAN REBELLIONS. 235

Southern Chinese Turkestan are, and have for many
years past been, most peaceful. In North-West
Kansu, on the contrary, the face of the land is
stamped with the seal of war and rapine. Not only
was this the case outside the border, but throughout
the breadth of Eansu, Shensi, and Shansi provinces
up to the YeUow River, the same dreadful evidence
is to be seen of the ravages made by the various
Mohammedan rebeUion&

What untold misery is hidden in the history of
the two main risings Europe has never heard. Of
the last, which chiefly centred round the towns of
Ho-chou and Si-ning towards the western border of
Eansu, faint echoes did reach the West, chiefly
through the accounts given by European mission-
aries, such as Mr Rheinhardt, who were forced to
play no inconspicuous part in some of the bloody
sieges which took place. Of what is known as the
first Mohammedan rising no connected account is
accessible to Europeans ; probably, indeed, no accur-
ate description either of losses in battle or of those
incidental to the long years of disjointed pillage
which succeeded the actual rising could be given
even by the Chinese. Nor is it possible here to
attempt to do more than outline the successive
phases in which the power, first of one party, then
of the other, made itself temporarily victorious.

The anti-Chinese feeling prevalent to this day
among the more fanatical Mohammedans of the
north-west has always existed, and once more it
burst forth in 1861 in the province of Shensi. The
actual cause is usuaUy considered to have been a
quarrel between the Chinese and Dungani (Chinese

236 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO,

Mohammedans) over the division of some spoil, the
result of the defeat of a rebel chieftain. Whether
the Mohammedan rebellion in Shensi had any con-
nection with the Panthay rebellion in Yunan and
the south-east of China five years previously is un-
certain. Be that as it may, the effect of the Shensi
squabble was to set light to a conflagration which
spread from the Yellow River, the border-line be-
tween Shensi and Shansi provinces, to the farthest
confines of Chinese Turkestan, and which lasted
altogether for nearly sixteen years.

Owing to being unsupplied with artillery, the
rebel Mohammedans were unable to capture any of
the chief cities, and although Si-an Fu, the capital,
was besieged for two years, it did not fall. In the
country districts the triumph of the Mohanmiedans
was complete, and from 1861 to 1870, — ^by which
time the Chinese troops had only succeeded in
clearing the province of Shensi, — men, women, and
children were ruthlessly massacred, walled towns
and villages were put to the sword, while those
who escaped fled for their lives to wander and
starve in the mountains surrounding their ruined
homes.

The country -side has not even now recovered
from these horrible cruelties. Everywhere, to this
day, traces may be seen of the heavy hand of the
Mohammedan rebels. In the mountains those who
did succeed in escaping lived for years an existence
which can only be compared to that of beasts.
Hunted and harried by marauding bands of rebel
Mohammedans, the Chinese character was seen at
its worst. Whole villages fled at the approach of

THE TRAIL OF FTKE AND SWORD. 237

small foraging parties of the enemy, and whatever
manhood the bunted fugitives may once have pos-
sessed seems to have entirely failed them. I have,
myself, been told stories by men who remembered
as boys being roused from their sleep and hurried
away at night into the surrounding mountains. Nor
did the Chinese local authorities, who were answer-
able for the safety of these miserable peasants, rise
in any way superior to the general panic. Such
garrisons of wretched militia as there were, shut
themselves up in the smaller walled towns, there
remaining, either to be massacred in their turn,
or until the withdrawal of the wandering rebel
bands allowed of their emerging.

In the year 1870 Li Hung Chang, a name well
known to Englishmen, who, it may be remembered,
was first brought to notice by the part he took in
helping General Gordon to suppress the Taeping
rebellion, received orders to proceed against the
Mohammedans of Shensi and Eansu. He had
hardly started with his foreign-drilled troops when
the massacre at Tientsin took place, and he was re-
called, but without withdrawing the troops. Such
was the fame that these men had already earned
that the rebels at once withdrew into Eansu, and
in Shensi peace was at last more or less restored.
General Liu, who had been posted to succeed Li
Hung Chang, for some reason remained inactive for
the next eighteen months, content with guarding
the Shensi- Eansu border. Another Chinese general,
Tso by name, in the meantime continued the task
of clearing the rebels out of Eansu province. He
is said to have had under his command nearly two

238 IN THB FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

hundred battalions, or about 100,000 troops. By
the beginning of April 1871 all Eansu east of the
Yellow River was practically free of Mohammedans,
the Chinese being also in possession of Lan-chou
and Ning Hsia. The chief Mohammedan centre
and hotbed of rebellion was then, as it still is, the
town of Ho-chou, already referred to as figuring
prominently during the second rebellion in 1889. It
stands some seventy miles south-west of Lan-chou
up the valley of the Yellow River, and the aim of
the Chinese was now the capture of this stronghold.
By 1873 the advance of the victorious troops had
brought about the fall of Su-chou, the last and chief
city of China proper, and in 1874 the advance was
commenced across the desert strip to HamL

The latter stagfe of the first Mohammedan rebellion
becomes, from fhis point, intermingled with other
and more stirring events in Chinese Turkestan.
These events culminated in the well-known rising
and defeat of the sovereign power of Yakub Beg,
but, however interesting, are too prolonged to be
dealt with in detail here.

Continuing their slow but methodical advance
westwards through Turkestan, the Imperial troops
succeeded in capturing in succession Kucha, Aksu,
and Maral Bashi. In the meantime Kuli Beg, the
son of Yakub, and the murderer of the latter,
Hakim Khan, had destroyed by their mutual
quarrels any remaining chances of successful
opposition upon the part of the Dunganis of
Kashgaria. After the capture of Maral Bashi,
the main lines of advance upon Yarkand and
Kashgar were open to the Chinese, and these

A SCENE OF DESOLATION. 239

two remaining Mohammedan strongholds were
at their mercy. Both fell towards the end of
December 1877, and before the year was out
Ehotan, the last town of any importance, was in
their hands. So ended the great Mohammedan
rebellion, which, incredible as it may seem, had
lasted for sixteen years, and thus the authority
of " the son of heaven " was once more firmly
established from Peking to Eashgar.

It was near the small unwaUed town of San
Tao Eou that we first began to realise the extent
of the misery which follows in the train even of
civil war. For some days previously ruined vil-
lages had become not uncommon, and where the
inhabitants still dwelt they had built for them-
selves fortified farms and towns practically un-
assailable, the meaning of which there was no
mistaking. Crossing a smaU half- frozen stream,
the most pitiful scene of desolation met our eyes.
The bank was thickly wooded, and the stretch of
country beyond fairly so. Freely scattered over
it were numerous ruined buildings, roofless farms,
and country houses. Not the little farms, these,
of the poorer class, but the comfortable homes of
well-to-do men, who once lived in a style now
quite unknown in these depopulated regions.
Even the orchards were still standing in places,
and from the traces of the walls there was no
difficulty in arriving at the size and pretensions
of these roomy farmstead&

In the midst of such depressing relics of the
ruthless cruelty of the last rebellion, we found

240 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

two wretched families now existing. They had
taken possession of one of the deserted farms, or,
poor people, were perhaps the rightfiil heirs to its
roofless walls; and there they were endeavouring,
with apparently doubtful success, to win back the
comfortable position they had once maintained.

The picture of the town of San Tao Kou is
clearly printed on my mental negative, for in
addition to recalling the scenes which have just
been narrated, it has other and more personal
memories. Before reaching San Tao Kou I had
been somewhat seriously unwell, and for some
days past the piercing winds which swept over
this arctic upland had become almost unbearable.
To them must be added the cold in the hovels we
stopped at, which, after so long exposure, was most
trying. At noon, inside what did duty for a
room, the temperature was only 23° Fahrenheit;
at 6 A.M. it was 7° Fahrenheit. Thanks to the
ceaseless care and nursing of my companion, the
delay caused by my attack was confined to a
few days only, by which time I was again able
to take the road.

It might be thought that in reaching China we
had once more regained the comforts of civilisation,
but this was far from being the case. A more
comfortless life, from a European point of view,
than that led by the lower orders in China it is
difficult to imagine. And, during this portion of
the journey, we were of necessity obliged to
conform to the habits of those with whom we
consorted. Including the evils of overcrowding
— to which we were not subjected — almost every

WHERE PRIVACY IS UNKNOWN. 241

necessity of existence, as we look upon them, is
absent from the life of millions of the massea To
mention only one or two things : privacy of any
kind is unknown. From the moment when a
Chinaman enters this world to that upon which
he leaves it, he is never, except by accident, alone.
A closed door, artificial light, warmth, except upon
the kang, upon which in winter he lives, are things
unknown. Sanitation is undreamt of. To that
other blessing which we are taught is only second
to godliness, no Chinaman of the poorer classes
aspires. To add to such a list would not be dif-
ficult, but the patience of my readers might become
exhausted were it to be continued. As a specimen
of the wilful callousness displayed by these in-
scrutable people, let one more example suffice.
As is well known, it is not the custom of the
East to trouble overmuch as to the source or
cleanliness of its water-supply, but in this respect,
next perhaps to the Korean, the Chinaman may
be said to out-distance them all. In most of the
inn-yards we had the pleasure of inhabiting, the
well usually stood in the lowest comer. The yard
itself would invariably suffer in comparison with
any muck -yard at home. Pigs, cows, fowls, and
ponies are bred and born, live and die there.
Every traveller uses the centre of the yard as
a place to deposit his kitchen leavings ; and
beggars of all degrees of dirtiness find in the
precincts of the inn -well a place set apart by
providence for the annual spring-cleaning.

It may appear strange that such a cesspool does
not levy a heavy toll upon the cheery carter folk,

242 ci THE FOorarrEPS of mabco foi/k

not to mention the occasional fonngnera unlucky
enough to have to use Chinese inns ; but no doubt
the secret lies in the tea-drinking habit, the bless-
ing of the country. Cold water a Chinaman
hardly ever touches: boiling water he can almost
invariably find ready for him as soon as he
enters an inn -yard. To this fiu^, and to this
only, must be attributed the fireed<Mn his consti-
tution enjoys firom the presence of germs which
would kill at a mile.

Two days before reaching Chia-yu-kuan we
halted at the little village of Chih-chin-hsia (pure
goldguUy). From the name it may be imagined
that gold is found there, and our firiend and late
host, the chief magistrate of Tung Huang, who
here caught us up on the road, informed us that
it was, and in no inconsiderable quantity.

The view of Chia-yu-kuan (the jade gate barrier),
as the fort is approached across a bare stony plain
from the west, is somewhat imposing. The frontier
fortress in the Great Wall of China, this gate has
for centuries played an important part in the history
of that nation. Sir Henry Yule has described how
all the ancient embassies and trading caravans, many
of which latter passed as embassies to pander to the
pride of early Chinese emperors, were compelled to
stop at this far-famed spot. It was here that they
had to await permission from the mighty Emperors
of Cathay to enter China. And before entering
the, to them, massive gates of the fort, they were
forced to give a full description of each individual
member of the calvacade. Only then was the right
vouchsafed to enter that wonderful country, mirac-

A FAR-FAMED SPOT. 243

ulou8 tales of which had penetrated to their own
distant lands.

It was at Chia-jTU-kuan that the embassy already
mentioned in a previous chapter, which was sent by
Shah Rukh, was so hospitably entertained. It was
there, too, that the delays began which prevented
Benedict Goes, one of the earliest and most earnest
of mission fathers, sent from the court of the
Emperor Akbar at Agra, from ever reaching Peking.
In Chinese eyes a certain halo of romance has
always clung to this far-famed spot, — chiefly, no
doubt, on account of its remote situation, but also
because for centuries before the sea-route to China
was thought of, Chia - 301 - kuan was the true
threshold of their country in all communications
with the West.

Let us see what justification remains in this
twentieth century for a reputation so long main-
tained.

It has been allowed that a first impression of the
fort is imposing, but are not all impressions worth-
less that will not stand the test of deliberate
analysis? If we fail to apply such tests, what
right have we to make use of impressions as guides
whereby to form a judgment ? And though no sane
man presumes to judge by impressions alone, there
are cases where it is impossible to apply any more
explicit test. Particularly of the land of which
we are now speaking may it with truth be said
that the knowledge of its peoples, government, and
ways, gained by most foreigners, is only by im-
pressions derived from a superficial study of it at
second-hand. Of the comparatively few willing or

244 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

able to instruct Europe as to the real stcUTis quo
in China, some, for a reason which the writer is
altogether unable to follow, persist in presupposing
that China must not be judged by a European
standard. Yet if this be the case, by what standard
is she to be judged ? The mere fact that such
gropings after national reorganisation exist, and
that they owe their inception to the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, is surely a sign that it is the
intention of those who initiate such changes to
force comparison with the methods they see in
progress around them. If, then, we base our iudtf-
ment of the progress of othe; nations towards
enlightened rule and general conditions upon a
modern standard of comparison, surely we ought
to apply that standard also to China. Once let
it be considered sufficient that some progress has
been made, that a distinct advance in national
evolution is evident, and all standard of com-
parison is lost.

If there is one hard truth which history has over
and over again confirmed, it is that neither in the
life of an individual nor of a state can there be
stagnation without decay, and nowhere in the
history of the world is this truth more plainly
exemplified than in China. In this twentieth
century it is an accepted canon in the laws which
govern the evolution of nations that none has the
right to stand still, even though it would. And
though perhaps not written in such blunt language
in the aide-memoire of present-day statesmen, this
truth has been none the less universally adopted.

Should the comparisons drawn in the following

STONES AS AMMUNITION. 245

chapters be considered too severe between things
as they are and things as they ought to be, the
writer can only plead good intent. Although the
position of candid friend is usually a thankless one,
it may be assumed in the present case that it is
adopted from the best of motives.

All this time the reader has been left most
unceremoniously in the cold, enjoying his first view
of the old wall of China. Let me now invite him
to approach and enter through the gates of Chia-
yu-kuan.

The so-called fortress is in reality a mud-brick
fort of a kind far inferior to such as are to be seen
at Lahore, or in other Indian cantonments, where
they have long served as mere quarters. The walls
enclose an area some 120 to 150 yards square. On
the north and south sides these are double. The
outer walls are twenty feet high and four to six
feet thick. East and west there are double gates
of solid aspect, while the inner wall is thirty-five to
forty feet high all round. Three big gate-towers of
the usual Chinese type are chiefly instrumental in
giving the place the imposing aspect referred to.
One of these towers surmounts each gate, and the
third stands in the centre of the fort. Inside the
walls is to be found a collection of the most squalid
hovels, with one official residence of an equally
dilapidated kind. Hound the highest wall runs a
narrow parapet for defensive purposes, but being
built within four feet of the summit of the wall
it is inaccessible, except in three or four places.
From the point of modem defence the whole place
is pitiable. Guns there are none. The garrison

246 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

consists of a half-score withered old men, of the
usual type of soldier seen in these parts, and they
are the proud possessors of wooden jingals. One
other item of defence remains to be catalogued, and
with no intention to hurt the feelings of the trusty
garrison to whose charge is committed the most
advanced outpost their mighty empire possesses,
this must not be passed over. At intervals of a
few yards along the top of the walls, piles of small
round stones are heaped as ammunition for the
purpose of repelling assault ! Could even Chinese
conservatism go further ? Standing by one of these
heaps to gaze over the north-west frontier, one
could not but recall the accounts of the amazing
superiority of the Russian artillery over that of the
Japanese at the battle of the Yalu. But here was
no question of artillery. We were still in the days
of David and Goliath.

247

CHAPTER XII.

8U-CH0U — P06T-HOUBI8— BEA00N-BI0NAL8 — THS FEAST OF LAVTERNB
— KAH-CHOU — A COLOSSAL FIQUBI OF BUDDHA — TOWV DKFKHCIS
AND F0BT8 OF BXFUGl — THB QUBSTION OF CHINB8E MISSIONS—
MONSEIQNBUB OTTO— POSSIBLE RAILWAY ROUTES— UANO-CHOU —
THE 8T0RT OF THE DEATH OF TO-HSIEN.

The day after croBsing the old frontier of China
at Chia - 3^1 - kuan our party reached Su-chou.
Known to Marco Polo as Sukchu, the latter town
is also mentioned by other well-known travellers
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. To Marco
Polo, practical merchant as he was, the chief point
of interest would appear to have been the rhubarb,
which was then, and still is, one of the main sources
of trade in West Kansu.

Other and later travellers have also lefl record
of their passage through Su-chou under various
quaint names. The embassy sent to China by
Shah Rukh, from Herat, about 1419, relates some
interesting items of the customs of the day.
Among these the account given of the yam-
khana or post-houses is worth recalling. Accord-
ing to Yule, from the time the embassy reached
Su-chou until it finally entered Khanbalik (Pekin),
the party were supplied with everything by the
Chinese authorities. They were lodged at the

248 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

yams or post-houses, of which, he says, there were
ninety-nine between Su-chou and Khanbalik, and
every night they found not only provisions but
servants, beds, night-clothes, &c., awaiting them.
"At every yam," the account continues, "they
brought four hundred well - caparisoned horses
and donkeys for the use of the travellers, besides
fifty or sixty vehicles."

At every post-house the travellers were pre-
sented with sheep, geese, fowls, rice, flour, honey,
wine, arrack, garlic, pickled onions, and vegetables.
At every city the ambassadors were invited to a
banquet. On these occasions there was always a
vacant throne with a curtain hung before it, and
a fine carpet spread in front. The Chinese ojfficials
and the ambassadors sat down upon this carpet,
while the rest of the company stood behind them
in ranks, like Mohammedans at their public wor-
ship. A man standing behind the throne then
proclaimed something in Chinese, and the man-
darins proceeded to kdu-tdu [Anglic^ kow-tow)
before the throne, in which the envoys were obliged
to follow them.

Another and no less interesting account of local
customs, is given by a Turkish dervish, a great
wanderer, about 1560 a.d. To Sir Henry Yule
we are again indebted for its preservation. Having
travelled across Asia by the usual route of Samar-
cand, Bokhara, and Taschan (Tashkendt), the der-
vish found himself eventually at the frontier of
China proper. " Then," he relates, " the question
is put to the merchants, ' What they bring, whence
they come, and how many of them there are ? ' "

FIRE-BEACONS. 249

And now comee the interesting point of the tale :
^^The answer being given, the king's guards pass
it by signal— by smoke if in dayUght, by fire if
by night — to the next watch-tower; they to the
next, and so on until in a few hours the message
reaches the king at Cathay ; a thing which would
by any other communication require many days.
The king sends back his orders in the same
manner and with equal rapidity, saying whether
all shall be admitted, or only a part, or the whole
put off."

Strange as the above account may sound, it
has confirmation from an entirely different source
— viz., in a story told by Shah Rukh's embassy
already referred to. It is here related that '^the
town is so placed that the next kanrgu (tower)
is in sight from it ; and when any important event
occurs, like the approach of an enemy's army, the
men on watch immediately Ught a fire, and this
being seen from the next kargu^ they make haste
to light another. And so the signal passes from
one to another, till in the space of one day and
night a piece of news passes over a distance of
three months' march." Yule also tells of the
continued existence of both post- and fire-beacons
between Tarkand and Peking. The distance is
more than five months' journey as usually travelled,
but he states that an express went in thirty-five
days, and under very great emergency in fifleen.

Miraculous as these accounts may sound, even
if we allow a considerable discount in the figures
quoted, it should not be forgotten that the methods
of passing news in use to this day by the natives

250 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

of Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere, are
almost as inexplicable.

One other mention of Su-chou must not be
omitted, for it marks one of the finest efforts of
missionary work which is known in China.

About 1602, Benedict Goes, a Jesuit missionary,
was sent to China by the Emperor Akbar. Chosen
specially for the work by Jerome Xavier, who had
himself not long previously been despatched from
Goa at the emperor's request to enlighten him
upon the truths of the Christian religion, Goes
represents the most heroic type of mission worker.
The story of his effort to reach Peking, where the
Jesuit brothers were then labouring, is a page of
mission history of which men of any creed might
well be proud.

Leaving Lahore in the Punjaub in the beginning
of 1603, this devoted man arrived at Su-chou, the
frontier of China, towards the end of 1605. During
this time he had successfully accomplished the most
arduous portion of the journey across Asia, only as
it turned out to be there kept waiting for permis-
sion to enter China, until that permission came too
late to find him alive. His death appears to have
been the result of disease, not improbably brought
on by the hardships he had endured. It was con-
tracted during the heart-breaking delay of fourteen
months at Su-chou. But it is not altogether cer-
tain that he did not die of poison at the hands of
the Mohammedans there, by whom he was detested.

Whatever the cause was, Su-chou was the scene
of the death of this noble man. It is related
of another of the most famous Jesuit pioneers,

AN £NLIOHTEN£D MISSIONARY. 251

Matthew Ricci, who was working at Peking at
the time of Groes's attempt to reach that capital,
that his principles as a missionary ^^ appear to
have been to stretch conciliation as far as possible ;
and to seek the respect of the educated Chinese
by the display of superior scientific attainments."
Without venturing for a moment to criticise the
methods now in vogue among missionaries in
China, it may be said in all simplicity that no
more obvious or likely way could be found of
winning over an educated people, such as are a
vast proportion of the Chinese.

Our own arrival at Su-chou was unmarked by
any incident. The town is a fine specimen of its
kind, and retains evidence of having once enjoyed
greater prosperity than it does now. The walls
are forty feet high, with flank defence towers every
hundred yards. The area they enclose is some
one thousand yards firom east to west by seven
hundred from north to south. One peculiarity
there is, in the fact that there are three, instead
of the usual four, massive gateways. The area
included by the walls is not entirely built over,
the western side of the town being sparsely occu-
pied. The thickly inhabited portion, and that
where all the main trade congregates, is, as remains
the custom in most large cities of China, confined
to the four main streets which meet and cross at
an ornamental drum - tower in the heart of the
town.

To us, straight from the wilds, the busy streets
and hustling crowds of Su-chou were at first rather
oppressing, especially so as it was the eve of the

252 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

celebrated Feast of Lanterns, for which all the
country side had poured into the town.

The inn-yards were for the most part crowded,
and it was not without difficulty that we could
make our way along the heavily-thronged thorough-
fares from one inn to another. Though invariably
treated politely, except for such jocular remarks
upon our personal appearance as any yokel crowd
might make, we were surrounded by gaping crowds
the moment we stood still. A European in Su-
chou is very rarely seen, and to many of the
villagers no doubt we were altogether a new
experience.

After some trouble we found an inn which was
nearly empty. It was one of the sort called in
these parts a hian or officials' inn, where the
ordinary Chinese travellers do not go. Rejoicing in
the prettily-sounding name of the " Yu-fu-dian," or
Elm Tree Inn, we considered ourselves lucky to have
found it. The following day, after calling on the
head magistrate, we gave ourselves up to enjoying
the crowds and the street scenes. Su-chou was
very much en fete, and never-ending processions of
what appeared life-size figures, but were really
children dressed up, were carried about the streets,
followed by grinning and good-natured crowds.

No little originality is displayed both in the
grouping and setting-up of these human waxworks
on the iron frames. Borne by many sturdy coolies,
the framework upon which the figures stand must
be of considerable weight, and how the children
keep so steady under the swaying and jostling it is
difficult to understand. Upon first sight we were

THE FEAST OF LANTERNS. 253

under the impression that the figures were in-
animate, but an amusing incident which happened
at a low barrier served to undeceive us. At the
end of a narrow by-street it was necessary for one
of the processions to pass underneath the wooden
archway, and in endeavouring to do so part of
the framework caught. In a moment the hitherto
motionless figures became very animate, and it was
only by the dexterity of the bearers that a com-
plete collapse was saved, much to the amusement
of the crowd.

While these processions were perambulating the
town, followed by the rough elements composing
the crowd, the merchants, shopkeepers, and more
wealthy hangs were busy setting up temporary
street arches, as well as various quaint and, in some
cases, artistic devices destined to contain lanterns
as soon as darkness fell. Seen by daylight, these
erections were not always handsome, but as we
viewed them at a late hour, after dark, gazing on
the now fairy-like town from high up on the central
tower, the effect was most pleasing. The latter is
of three storeys, in the well-known style never
departed fix)m in China, with sloping deep eaves,
which support the heavily -groined roofs. Bound
the eaves lights sparkled in a continuous line, and
from them huge lanterns, of variegated colour and
design, swung gently in a faint breeze. Running
up at right angles to the tower were the four
principal streets, throughout whose entire length
stretched a brilliant vista of lantern-decked archea
In the lesser streets and more distant purlieus,
scattered and irregular lanterns shed a more feeble

254 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

light, which gradually softened into utter darkness
beyond the inhabited quarters of the town.

Standing on the topmost storey of the tower, it
required but little imagination to recall the opening
scene in that well-known operetta, "The Geisha,"
and whoever has sat enthralled at the opening
chorus in his comfortable stall in a London theatre,
can form a very true idea of the real thing as we
saw it that night in the crowded streets of Su-chou.

Much as we enjoyed the Feast of Lanterns, it
was from another point of view unwelcome. At
Su-chou it was necessary to make a fresh arrange-
ment for cart-hire, and hard as the carter class in
China work, like the rest of the lower orders there,
to them a holiday once taken is a sacred thing.

It was not until the third day, and then only
under pressure from the yamen^ that we could
obtain carts and make a start. Between Su-chou
and Liang-chou is a distance of rather over 300
miles, which, owing to the slow rate the Chinese
cart travels, and to the miserable state of the so-
called track, occupied our party seventeen marches.
It is not so much that the gradients are not
sufficiently considered, for in this respect the
Chinese have not much to learn, but that of the
roadway they take very slight, if any, notice. So
long as a Chinese cart can be bumped and hauled
along, no matter how severe the strain upon the
animals may be, no Chinaman troubles his head.
In many places systematic repair would work
wonders ; but it is a well-proved fact that although
the Chinaman can make almost everything, he
neither can nor will keep up anything.

SUNKEN ROADWAYS. 255

Another great drawback to speed in North-West
Kansu are the sunken roadways, which form for
scores of miles the most common type of track. At
times over twenty feet deep, these cuttings are so
narrow that two carts frequently cannot pass.
Here and there a dug-out is made for this purpose
in the narrowest cuttings. In the wet season, and
when the snow which lay everywhere when we first
entered China proper has melted, many miles of the
route would be bog and wellnigh impassable. Up
to the Wu-shi-ling, the highest pass climbed any-
where between Peking and Su-chou, situated
between Liang-chou and Lan-chou, the country is
only semi - cultivated and sparsely settled. The
narrow strip of North -West Kansu, through
which the great road runs to Su-chou, is nowhere
more than 100 miles in width until nearing Liang-
chou. On the north-east this strip is bordered by
the Gobi desert, along the edge of which flows the
only river of any consequence in these parts, the
Hei-ho. Rising in the Nan-shan, the latter crosses
the main route near Kan-chou, then runs parallel
to the route for some distance, to disappear finally
north and east into the desert. South-west of the
great road, for most of the distance to Lan-chou,
the gigantic ranges of the eastern Nan-shan shut in
the strip of Kansu already mentioned. Behind the
Nan-shan lie the easterly terraces of the highest
tableland in the world, Tibet.

Being of an average height of 5000 to 6000 feet
above sea-level, the climate of North-West Kansu
inclines towards severity in the winter, with a
correspondingly mild summer.

266 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

In January, at the time we passed, the wind is
at times piercingly cold. Snow is not excessive,
although the lower Nan-shan ranges were thickly
covered while we were at Liang-chou at the end of
February. Yet a week later, crossing the Wu-shi-
ling, there was only a little snow at 10,000 feet
above sea-level.

Shortly before reaching Kan-chou, the third of the
Fu towns (those of prefectorial grade) in North-
West Kansu, our party met the first European we
had seen for six months. Sitting one day sunning
myself, carter fashion, on the shafts of my cart, I
noticed some vehicles approaching in the opposite
direction, and walking ahead of them what I took
at first glance to be an unusually tall Chinaman. A
second look, however, showed something in his walk
decidedly European, and such he proved to be. Un-
fortunately for both parties, we were denied the
pleasure of a long talk. Mr Derring was making
for Hami and Chinese Turkestan on behalf of the
Bible Society, who hope to find opportunities of
there extending their sphere of work, and the spot
we happened to meet at was about half-way through
our respective stages for that day. He was able,
however, to give us some news of the world, for we
had been entirely cut off from communication of
any kind since leaving Leh in Kashmir ; and after
a quarter of an hour's chat by the roadside we
parted.

Two days later Kan-chou was reached.

As all Chinese towns are practically a copy of
one another, it is unnecessary to weary the reader
with a description of it. To us its interest was

A GREAT BUDDHIST TEMPLE. 267

chiefly confined to the fact that there is there a
small Belgian mission, where we were most kindly
received by the brother in charge, who was able to
give lis an old Belgian newspaper. Here we first
read the news of the day, to a limited extent it is
true, but what the sight of even an old newspaper
means, only those who have been cut off entirely
from all communication with the outside world for
six months can realise. Coal of excellent quality is
found near Kan-chou, as indeed it is throughout
North- West Kansu. At Su-chou petroleum-oil is
already worked under the superintendence of a
gentleman who has for years served the Chinese
Grovemment. Mr Splingart is a Belgian by birth,
but holds Chinese rank. Well known throughout
the fisur West, Lin-Ta-Jen, to give him his Chinese
name, is the right-hand man of the Viceroy, and it
will be through his instrumentality that railways,
mills, and such modem mechanical appliances as
eventually find their way to this far-distant pro-
vince, will owe their inception*

Two days south of Kan-chou, the monotony of
the daily march was agreeably broken by the find-
ing of an exceedingly striking Buddhist temple,
near a small walled town, Shan-tan-hsien by name.
The temple ('' Ta-fo-tsu-miao " in Chinese, '* great
Buddhist temple") stands at the base of a low
range of mountains, where it is picturesquely
placed against the hillside. The area endoeed
by the walls is built up in five terraces, forming
in the usual fashion five individual sets of temple
buildings, which yet are connected by steps.

The glory of the temple is a colossal figure of

258 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

Buddha, some fifty feet in height, which is not cut
out of rock, but is built of stone and plaster. The
figure is seated in the usual fashion with eyes fixed,
one hand on each knee, rested against the hillside.
Access to any part of the figure can be obtained by
ascending to one terrace or another. The represent-
ation of the sainted founder of the great renuncia-
tion is kept in very good repair. The huge head of
the figure is gilded all over. It has a startling blue
wig and bright red lips. The eyes, fairly natural,
look like glass, but are not within touch even from
the top gallery of the terrace.

For the sake of comparison the following dimen-
sions may be of interest, though to introduce such
prosaic details into the contemplation of so absorbing
a representation almost causes a feeling of shcune.
The ears are each seven feet long. The head sixteen
to eighteen feet high. The neck twenty to twenty-
four feet round. In the temple buildings we found
some unusually artistic specimens of Chinese wall-
paintings; and although at the time we passed a
few old priests were considered sufficient to watch
the whole enclosure, there is no doubt, from the
evidence of money spent, that the temple must
be richly dowered, or Buddhism must still have
many devoted followers in this particular district.

Like the Japanese, the Chinese are wonderfully
endowed with the eye for a beautiful landscape, and
equally with their more up-to-date neighbours, are
imsurpassed in the faculty they enjoy for choosing
just the right spot to indulge the spirit of contem-
plation in its most ideal form. Few who remember
Sir Edwin Arnold's beautiful description of the

NSQLECTED DSFENCB8. 269

palace prepared for TasMhara after Sidd&rtha had
wedded her but would recall them as they lingered on
the terraces of the '' Ta-fo-tsu-miao/' — not that the
one could for a moment compare with the other, but
to the common folk, who spend their holiday in this
modem Yishramvan, and choose to enjoy the view it
offered, the charm may be as great. Leaving the
temple, we were, as so frequently happens in this
land of siurprises, rapidly brought face to face with
a striking contrast. At Shan-tan-hsien, the small
town already mentioned, we reached the end of our
stage and had to spend the night. An3rthing more
squalid, not to say filthy, than the appearance of the
place it would be hard to find. Down the middle
of the chief lane, itself a disreputable-looking spot,
ran a small stream, and this appeared to answer the
double purpose of main drain and municipal water-
works. Whether because it was partially firozen we
escaped the myriads of germs which must have
liurked in its shallows, I do not know ; anyhow, the
recollections of the temple would be even more
charming than they are had Shan-tan-hsien showed
any desire to live up to it.

In an earlier chapter mention has been made of
the entire neglect of any military precaution for safe-
guarding the communication with, or the advance
of, an enemy from Chinese Turkestan. Not only
are the garrisons deficient in numbers, munitions of
war, in fact in every necessary requirement, but no
endeavour has been made on the part of the Chinese
to take advantage of natural features, which in
modem war play so prominent a part in deciding
the fate of batties and incidentally of nationa

260 m THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

How fistr China is vulnerable on her north-weet
border may to some extent be gathered from the
enormous expenditure she has i^urred during the
course of her history to retain possession of Chinese
Turkestan. No other reason, except perhaps that
of national pride, can be imagined for the constant
drain she is wUling to meet. Moreover, history goes
to show that a China confined to Kansu, and de-
prived of Mongolia and Eastern Turkestan, is but
half an empire. Tet, while apparently recognising
this fact, her rulers past and present have never
allowed conviction to carry them fiirther than to
build the Great Wall

Throughout almost the whole of her vast northern
boundary, stretching from the Pamirs to the Pacific,
at the mouth of the Tumen river south of Vladi-
vostock, fortimately for herself, China is defended
by a great natural buffer in the shape of vast deserts.
To reach the heart of the country, armies from the
north must enter either through Manchm^ia at one
end, or through North -West Kansu at the other
end, of this huge stretch of territory.

Manchuria has already been the scene of at
least one serious attempt, and no man can say
with any certainty how remote may be the period
when a similar attempt may not be made at the
other end of the frontier. It has always been a sub-
ject for difference, in expert opinion, whether it is
strategically sounder to await the advance of a pos-
sible foe on the hither side of such natural defences
as a desert country offers, or to occupy available
positions on the far side, connecting these by means
of railways with the defender's advanced posta

A yULNBRABLE UNB. 261

Such problems are found on our own frontiers, as
for example in that part of Baluchistan through
which the railway now runs to Nushki, and may
some day to Seistan. Again, between Quetta and
Kandahar does a somewhat similar problem arise,
and on the north-east frontier would arise were
Russia in occupation of Chinese Turkestan.

In the country under discussion, China possesses
a long line of fertile oases, practically unifortified,
which stretch firom Ili and from Kashgar to Lan-
chou in Kansu. Along this line nature has decreed
that armies are bound to move whose aim is to
enter China. The question therefore of the advisa-
bility, not to say necessity, of taking advantage of
all possible natural positions hardly admits of argu-
ment. It may then be accepted as granted that
China would long ago have ascertained, and have
placed in a state of defence, such positions as there
are. Unfortunately, the obvious is nowhere less
studied than in China, and far from having made
any attempt at fortifymg her one vulnerable line
of attack, I am bold enough to suggest that to-day
she has no idea of the existence of such natural
positions as there are.

To turn firom modem defensive works to forts of
refuge, such as are still found dotted everywhere in
North -West Kansu, is perhaps too severe a trial of
my reader 8, and especially of a military reader's,
interest. I will, however, ask any who feel thus
to remember that it has been the writer's aim
to chronicle what he did see, not what he might
have seen.

The previous history of a country-side, peaceful

262 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

or otherwise, may usually be read in the character
of its towns and villages. Our own border marches
tell a tale even to this day in the remains of the
fortified ruins which 8tiU linger in remote parts.
Nothing is more striking in most portions of China
than the peaceful character of its villages over
thousands of square miles. But in North-West
ELansu all is changed. It is no exaggeration to
say that firom An-si-chou to the Wu-shi-ling
hardly a village or farm exists but is in some way
or other prepared for defence.

The Fu (prefectorial), Chou (departmental), and
Hsien (district) towns are enclosed, as is the usual
custom, by defensive walls and strong gates, but
even these have been more solidly constructed than
in towns farther south. Double, sometimes triple,
gateways defend the exits; and at Kan-chou a
stream and marsh just outside the walls are also
turned to advantage.

Setting aside the towns, the feature of the
country-side is undoubtedly the forts of refuge
and defensible posts— defensible, that is, where
modern weapons are not employed — which are
scattered not only along the main route but on
both sides of it wherever human habitations exist.
From small forts a few yards square with ten-
feet walls, these posts run to miniature fortresses,
which, allowing for the differences of surroundings
and available building material, resemble nothing
so much as the mediaBval castles of our own feudal
days. Varying as they do in size and massive
appearance, the dimensions of one which is here
given suggest some idea of the invincibility of these

VOST8 OF RBFUGS.

263

reftiges, if only the hearts of their defenders had
heen strong in proportion to their ramparts. The
fort described stands at a village named Pa-pa
(eight streams), a few miles west of Liang-chou.
This district exhibits some of the most pitiful

1 •

1 1

Ovx TTPB or FoBT or Retuob ni Nobth-Wbr Kavvu.

90 KiQAre TiHt. WaUa, 35 fMt high, at top 8 fwi thfek, ftt bottom
15 foot thkk. Th^ are niAdo of nuikmod mrth and mod-bricka, and
haTO aolid buttriwii for flank dafanoa. "A" ia tha oofy antrmnoa, a
tmall poatarn door, fl x 4 faat. Inaida ara tha hoirala of tha iahabitaota.

examples of the wholesale destruction caused dur-
ing the early Mohammedan rising, though why
such places did not afford the safety sought for
by the wretched inhabitants can only be laid to
the charge of their own cowardice.
Seventeen days after quitting Su-chou, we

nr ma vooisxroB ov kaboo polo.

mro approaohing the town of Liang-chou, and
had already ngfated the two fine brick pagodas
which adorn the site, and are well-known land-
markB toe aome rnOea round. On the north-west
nde of Ule town, a European mission -station haa
bem established for thirty years. It is presided
over l^ Ifonadgneor OttOf Vicaire Apostolique of'
the Catholic Mission to North- West Kansu, and
we intoned to pay a visit to him before entering !
Idanir^otL The estabHshment was founded in
the first instance by two native priests sent from
Lan-choa, and has since thriven and grown until
it presents the oharaoter of a village, almost
entirely self - sapporting, and directed by Mon-
aeignenr Otta The subject of missions in China
is, as every one aoquunted with that country
knows, a stmiewhat thorny question to handle. ,
V(duntes might be, and in some cases have been,<
written for and against these institutions ; and a
late British Minister to China has thought fit
to express his opinion of them in terms not
altogether complimentary. From a diplomatic
point of view, no doubt, considerable trouble is
caused by the presence and behaviour of a certain
class of missionary in China; but the lesson the
writer would derive from this fact is not that
the missionary is not wanted, but that most strict
and searching care should be exercised in the
selection of those who are chosen.

Setting aside for the moment all other side Issues,
it is impossible for any professing Christian to raise
objections to the spread of God's Word among the
bmthen.

MISSION ABIB8. 266

From the writer s own experience there are men
quite unfitted for the profession they have adopted
— as missionaries ; so in every other walk of life,
where many have unfortunately mistaken their
vocation. But there are also earnest devoted men,
whose one and only thought is to carry out the
original command to preach the Grospel ; and in
doing so, in the opinion of the Writer, these men
are laying a priceless foundation which will some
day bear fruit. Of the secondary benefits the
presence of such missionaries affords, not the least
is the medical knowledge they difiuse in a land
where treatment is still in vogue such as people
in Europe would scarcely credit. One other point
may be noticed, possibly unfamiliar to those whose
sympathies do not altogether run with missionary
enterprise in China.

I venture to assert that nowhere in the world
is the personal element more valued or more
necessary, as applied to any work, than in this land
of contradiction. In the doctrines of their great
sage, Confucius, the highest moral principles are to
be found. These, if acted up to, would furnish as
high an ethical code as any the human mind has
ever conceived, but unfortunately they rarely are.

The chief use of the sage's aphorisms is confined
to engraving them as food for the eyes on temple
doorways, or to quoting them as embellishments to
the eternal essays and philosophical discussions
so dear to Chinese educated minds. None the
less in that country is an upright man respected
and honoured to the full, whether he be a high
official struggling to stem the torrent of corruption

266 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

which threatens finally to sweep away all attempts
at the regeneration of public and ma^sterial life, or
whether he be a village elder known throughout
his own little world as a man of jtist and honest
purpose.

It is from this point of view that I would plead
for the real missionary, in the conviction that the
sight of such men, the work they do, the self-
sacrifice they exhibit, the wholly unselfish lives
they devote to their work, must and does appeal
even to the intensely realistic nature possessed by
most Chinesa

During the two days spent with Monseigneur
Otto, we began to realise once more the delights
of civilisation. Though nothing could be simpler
or more modest than the mission surroimdings and
daily life, it was a great pleasure to enjoy once
again the companionship of educated Europeans.
The bishop himself is a remarkable man. In the
course of many conversations he told of his arrival
in China thirty years ago ; and the impressions and
recollections of so shrewd an observer upon all
matters connected with Chinese life were full of
interest. Though Monseigneur had never since
quitted the country of his adoption, he had kept
himself altogether au fait with European afiairs.
So much so that after our first meeting I was
under the impression that he had not long returned
from furlough. Thirsting for English news we had
eagerly devoured the last Shanghai French papers,
where we found full lists of what was at that time
our new Liberal Cabinet.

Monseigneur was not only ready but eager to

AN ENUQHTENSD BISHOP. 267

discuss the characters of those Right Honourable
Gentlemen, with whose names he was familiar ; and
unknown previously as many were outside our own
country, there were very few of whom he had not
heard.

At the time of oiu* stay the mission contained
some three thousand to foiu* thousand converts and
sixteen priests, but the number of the latter were
above what is customary owing to the arrival of
a fresh batch from Europe only a few days previ-
ously. It was intended to further storengthen
another station at Tsin-chou, south of Lan-chou —
hence the temporary increase.

The mission premises represent a Chinese village
of the local type, with the addition of two churches
^-one quite new — the schools, and the quarters for
the priests. In these schools the children are first
taught French and grounded in the elements of
their new faith. After some years, and if of
promise both in character and intelligence, they
are brought on to learn Latin. Eventually, but
not until after fifteen years' close study and train-
ing, the pick of the scholars may be ordained native
priests, though very few are so chosen.

Lieaving Monseigneur Otto and the fathers,
whose kindness and hospitality nothing could have
exceeded, we started again for Liang-chou on the
third day. During our time at the mission-station
the snow had never ceased to falL It was a
morning of brilliant sunshine, and the surrounding
country as well as the lower ranges of the Nan-
shan, three miles distant, presented a most beautiful
panorama in their spotless covering of white.

M8 nr THB WQvamsn or icaboo foui.

liang'-dioiit as has abeady beei^ stated, is VJbAj
to take a promineiit ]daoe wheUt snd if, tiie da-
▼diopment of thk fiur-away provinee CMoineiidea.

A railway being the first neeesn^, a sdtaUe
track must be found It will be seen by a guanos
at tiie map that tiie great higliroad runs from
Peking vid Tai-yuan-fu and Ping-yang in Shanai
to Si-an-fu, tiie capital of ShensL From Si^an-fii
tiie road continues nwth of the Wdi river vnSkfy
ifid Ping-liang to Lan^diou and Liai^-diou« Thb is
tiie main road which for omituries past has seen
the passage of embassies, armies, merchants, and
officials, to Mid fro between the ca{atal uid CSiiiMMS
Turkestan. Along it inns are found throughout
the entire distance, and by the traffic whbh un-
ceasingly drags its laborious way over its hilly
length many thousands of ...tiie lower raders fioid
a living, lliis route is impossible for a railway,
owing to the &et that any such track would be
obliged to face numerous cross ranges, also that the
natural drainage of this area runs at right angles
to any such proposed course.

There are, however, two other more direct
though less used tracks connecting Liang-chou and
Lan-chou with Peking. Of these the most northern,
after quitting Peking, runs north-west to Kalgan.
Hence, tinning almost due west, it reaches Kwei-
hua-cheng, continuing across the Ordos country
north of the Yellow River to Liang-chou. It is
by this route that camel-caravans travel, and by it
the mission's heavy stores, and the priests who had
lately come from Europe, had reached their destina-
tion. The journey occupies sixty-one days. The

OPIUM-TRADERa 269

main difficulty of this track is the want of both
water and supplies throughout most of its length,
though these deficiencies would be no bar to the
construction of a railway. There is the other
consideration to be thought of — viz., that after
leaving the vicinity of Kwei - hua - cheng the
country traversed offers no hope of paying local
traffic.

For the conveyance of goods there is an alter-
native and subsidiary route to the above. This is
found in the Yellow River, which is made use of
by the Tientsin wool and skin merchants returning
after buying at Si-ning and other localities. Boats
are chartered at Chung- wei, half-way between Lan-
chou and Ninghia, which can descend the stream to
Pao-tu, not far firom the great southward bend
where it divides Shensi from ShansL The third
line of connection between Peking and Liang-chou
runs from Tai-jnian-fu in Shansi vid Wu-pao in the
Yellow River, Sui-te, Ning-tiao-liang, Chung-wei
to Liang-chou. This route is much used by the
opium-traders, who come every season from ChiU
and Shan-tung provinces.

They are well mounted and frequently do double
marches, treating their animals most carefully. They
take thirty-five days. From Chung-wei to Ning-
tiao-liang the route is at present only the usual
bridle-path; but I was informed that it could be
made into a cart-tiuck but for one bad torrent
which runs into the Yellow River not far from
Chung-weL

The question of railways is at present arousing
so much attention in China, that it may not be

270 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MABCO POLO.

without interest to devote a few lines to the
subject. The eventual opening up of the re-
sources of China depends, as is well known, upon
the acceptation by that country of modem means
of transport. It may not be as well known that,
from the engineering point of view, China is by no
means an easy country to link up with railways.

For the most part mountainous, the level plains
are confined to a more or less limited area north of
the Yangtze river, and south of the Yellow River
from Si-an-fu to Kai-feng-fu.

Most of Western and Southern China presents
most difficult problems to the would-be constructor ;
nor is the task made easier by the fact that the
physical composition of the area now immediately
under discussion is composed of loess. Of a pliable
soil constitution, this loess offers unusual difficulties,
owing to the extraordinary configuration of the
face of the land where it predominates. The subject
is fully discussed in a later chapter, being merely
mentioned here as it forms one of the chief points
which will guide the choice of railway track be-
tween Si-an-fu and North-West Kansu. Whether
the future North - Western Railway of China is
likely soon to be an accomplished fact, the writer,
not being a prophet, cannot say ; but there is no
harm in attempting to indicate the most likely
track. Over the central and eastern portion of
this track our own journey took us whilst explor-
ing the wilds of central Kansu.

It is perhaps necessary to inform the reader
unacquainted with the present position of railway
construction in China, that the Peking Hankow

PofsHit IFdcr ^ ir^ railw^ Ih^/hnn SIAN-FU V> LANCHOU.

KkiTufty

272 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

trunk line will eventually link up with Si-an-ftu
The latter is such a very important centre that it
must be connected with the capital; and whether
it in turn will be put in direct communication
with Liang -chou first, or whether the northern
and most direct route to Peking will be undertaken,
it is impossible to say. In the former case the
foregoing may be the track of the new line,
which could afterwards be linked with a more
direct track reaching Peking along the northern
border.

There is one great point in favour of a railway,
which is that in coal North-West Kansu is par-
ticularly rich. Of such good quality is it that
we frequently burnt it in open pans in the inn
rooms, finding it almost smokeless and scentless.
The price round Liang-chou is 6 cash per lb. ; of
the very best, 12 cash (1 cash = about ^^ part
of 2s.) The initial difficulty in the case of a
North - Western Railway would probably be that
of finding capital — that is, unless it formed part
of a European concession.

Although the country it traversed would be a
poor one, the destination arrived at is not. So
highly prized are the magistrateships of Kan-chou
and Liang-chou that they have been christened by
the Chinese respectively " the gold-mine " and " the
silver-mine." It is owing to the chance of rapidly
accumulating wealth, as well as to the fact that
such posts, from their remote situation, are safe
from the too exacting oontrol of Peking, that
aspu-ants to magisterial honour are tempted to
travel so far afield.

AN BCHO OF THE BOXSB RISING. 273

Liang-chou itself is a town in every sense of the
word. It has a population of 15,000 to 20,000
souls, and shows all the usual signs of prosperity.
We found here the first English missions-one of
the China Inland branch. It is at present the
frontier post, but it is hoped that farther pro-
gress towards Chinese Turkestan may not long be
delayed.

At Liang-chou we became possessed of an item
of information interesting perhaps to those who
took part in the Boxer rising of 1900. During
that brief but somewhat stirring period, few
names were as widely known to foreigners, or
more execrated by them, than that of TU-Hsien,
Governor of Shansi, and murderer of the un-
fortunate missionaries, who to the number of
forty-five perished in a day at Tai-yuan-fu.

Among the conditions of peace which followed
the rising, it may be mentioned that several high
Chinese officials were condemned to death by
Imperial decree. But as the execution of such
decrees was not intrusted to any European
tribunal, much doubt has existed whether they
could be considered anything more than the usual
'* saving of face." Of the ultimate death of Ytt-
Hsien, we were informed at Liang-chou there can
be no doubt. The following is the somewhat
strange story told by a native Christian, a China-
man, who accidentidly happened to witness the
final scene. Immediately after the publication of
the edict referred to, TU-Hsien was banished to
the farthest confines — in other words, to Chinese
Turkestan. He had reached Liang-chou in Kansu^

274 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

and there found in the governor a fellow-provincial
and old schoolfellow, neither having met for yeara
Asked by the latter to remain a few days, Yu-Hsien
was only too pleased to consent. Unfortunately for
him, this step cost him his life. The second day
of his visit an order wm received from Peking
that upon the arrival of Yii-Hsien at Liang-chou,
he was to be put to death ; and a more un-
pleasant command for his old friend and school-
mate to have to enforce it is hardly possible to
imagine. The governor having given the neces-
sary orders, our informer related, retired to his
yctmen and himself took poison. Early the fol-
lowing morning — probably warned, and by then
resigned — Yii-Hsien came out into a courtyard
in the front of the house where he lodged, and
there the executioner told off was waiting for
him. Whether the nerve of the latter failed him
at the thought of the status of his victim, our
informant could not say ; anyhow, after striking
one badly aimed blow at Yu-Hsien's neck, the
man threw down the sword and ran, leaving the
wounded ex-governor lying in the yard. A moment
after a minor military official came out from the
house, and this man, encouraged by his still
living master to make an end of the horrible
scene, himself cut off the ex-governors head. So
died Yii-Hsien, — a man of brutal character, who
was perhaps more responsible than any other
Chinese official for the rise and spread of the
Boxer rebellion.

276

CHAPTER XIII.

NATIVIS OF WS8TERH KAH8U— OPTOM-BMOKIHO— THS PBKIN IDIOT—
TBAYSLLIHO CASTS— LAK-OHOU—A BRIDOS OF BOATS — A BURPRISIVO
DIKVXB-PARTT— THB MSBTINO OF BABT AHD WMT — COMIC-OPKBA
ABMT MANOBUTBIS— FAIR WOICBN AND FAMBD TOBACCO— PBIHITIVl
MACEINBBT — THB FUTUBB OF KAH8U AND SZB-CHUAN.

Thb inhabitants of Western Kansu vary so little
from the ordinary Chinese of the north, that any
detailed description of them is unnecessary. The
population may be divided into two classes. The
first are those who live by agriculture, and who
are in settled possession of such land as is under
cultivation ; the second, those who live by, and
on, the main road.

It might be thought that the latter class would
form a small minority of the general population,
but although statistics on the point would be
impossible to come by, personal observation leads
me to think that the proportion of each would
not be far short of equal The dwellers on the
land are either settlers since the rebellion days,
or descendants of the unhappy people who bore
the brunt of those never-to-be-forgotten times.

From An-si-chou to Lan-chou, even the larger
towns owe a large proportion — if not the chief —
of such prosperity as they enjoy to the passing

276 IN THB K)OTBTEFS OF lOLBOO FOLa

traffic, in the shape of having to provide stares
and supplies to the never-ceasing string of
travellers, officials, , and merchants who firequent
the road.
j The towns in their turn take what means of

subsistence the surroimding districts can produce,
but, judging by the amount of transport carrying
only the necessities of life, as well as fix)m inquiries
made, it appears as though sufficient supplies were
not produced on the spot to meet the demands
of the through traffic as well as to supply the
local inhabitants.

The people of Eansu met with in the joum^
impressed us £Etvourably, especially the carter daas.
As a rule, these were friendly and open-minded
compared to the ordinary Chinaman of the interior,
progressive and not anti-foreign.

On consideration it is natural that they should
be so. The through traffic on the great road is
composed of people from almost every part of
Northern China, besides others, who to the
Chinese are almost foreigners. It also provides
the opportunity of studying all classes, from
governors and high officials of provinces to
ordinary merchants; also, though far more in-
frequently, it affords the chance of coming in
contact with the actual foreigner, and he of
various nations.

One blot, and that no small one, lies on the
people of Western Kansu. It is that men and
women are to a fearful extent habitual and con-
firmed smokers of opium. From personal observa-
tion I should have placed the percentage high.

OPIUM. 277

but had I not had the best authority for saying
so, not as high as it would appear to be.

Monseigneur Otto, who, as ah^eady related, has
spent thirty years of his life in China, and a large
portion of that time in Kansu, reckons six men
out of every eight of the population as confirmed
in the habit. Opium-smoking is sometimes com-
pared to the unnecessary drinking common to most
European nations. But this in no sense represents
a true perspective. It is well known that opium
is largely in use among other Asiatic races, some
of our own native Indian soldiers being of this
number ; but that it can for one moment be con-
sidered in China as merely a harmful excess
confined to a small minority of those who use
the drug is not the trutL Without statistics it
is useless to attempt to draw exact comparisons,
but it is only necessary to travel for a few
months in Western Kansu to see how all-em-
bracing in its fearful effects the habit is.

Facilis descensus Avemi is a maxim with which
we are all familiar, and in the sense in which it
is generally used it applies to nothing so aptly
as the career of the immoderate opium - smoker.
During the last year efforts have been made to
control if not to extinguish the evil ; and if high-
sounding edicts from the Imperial brush could
accomplish the impossible we might hope for
better things.

Worthy of all praise as such attempts are, there
would be more hope of ultimate success had mod-
eration been shown in the commencement of the
crusade. Unfortunately the edict has gone forth

278 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

that in ten years opium - smoking wiU no longer
exist in China, and in this form the experiment
may be said to be doomed. Let ns suppose for
the sake of analogy that a bill could pass through
both Houses of Parliament suppressing not only
the abuse of beer - drinking, but the use of beer
within the same limit of time. Would any sane
person expect to see aught but failure accompany
such a preposterous attempt? Yet the task to
which the rulers of China have yoked themselves
is a thousand times more impossible.

Setting apart for the moment the political side
of the question involved in the Imperial edict
referred to, — that is to say, whether there is any
intention on the part of the Chinese Government
to do more than free themselves by the issue of
such an edict from the charge that they must
first remove the beam from then- own eye previous
to demanding the cessation of the import of Indian
opium into China — in this case the mote which is
in their brother's eye, — let us glance briefly at
the history of the opium question in the Flowery
Land.

One hundred and forty years in the history of
an Asiatic race is an inappreciable space ; though
it is just that time since opium first became a
bone of contention between England and China.

In the autumn of 1856 a ship flying the
British flag. The Arrow, was lying at anchor in
the Canton river, suspected of smuggling opium
destined for the market at Canton. As the result
of some years of international squabbles upon the
opium question, the Chinese captured The Arrow,

THE ANTI-OPIUM CRU8ADK 279

hauled down the British flag, and impriaoned some
of her native crew.

This incident was practically the cause of the
second war between the two nations, so that opium
has its roots deeply fixed in the intemationid soil
upon which we stand to discuss the question with
China.

From 1856 to the present day the import of
Indian opium has continued, and although the
amount that thus reaches China is a mere cipher
in comparison with the quantity of the home-grown
drug, yet the first steps taken by the Chinese
Government in the anti- opium crusade were to
request that the import of Indian opium might
cease.

There is no possibility within the limits at com-
mand of discussing in detail the various clauses
of the Pekin Edict, published in ' The Times ' of
November 23, 1906. They are far too compre-
hensive, and would need to be dissected in detail
in order to show the improbability of their being
carried out as they stand.

It is allowed by the Chinese authorities, who,
it may be said incidentaUy, do not as a rule err
in severity in the enumeration of national faults,
that forty per cent of the Chinese use opium.
Had the percentage been raised considerably, and
the forty per cent tarred as abusing the use of
opium, perhaps we should have been nearer the
real figures. Whatever these may be, it should
be remembered that the abuse of this drug is not
confined to the lower orders. On the contrary, it
numbers among its slaves — those most hopelessly

2S0 m THE roOISTBFS OF MABOD POLO.

addicted to its use— the highest and most fowrnhd
in the country.

Not cmlj as consumers do we find such men bat
also as producers. Mudi of the land upon whidh
C|aum is grown is in the hands of magistrates and
even higher offi<nal& As the most productive crop,
in spite of its paying in places douUe taxation, the
area under the poppy is annually increasing in
Cbina. In some puts good wheat-land is turned
into poppy-land, with the result that whole districts,
fixrmerly capable of raising sufficient food-stuff for
kcal requirements, must now import.

Nor are the vested interests in &vour of the
drug less strong in other ways.

It is well Imown that no Chinese magistrate
could exist upon the miserable stipend he recmves.
It has hitherto been his business, and that of no
^le else, how he suppl^nented his inccune ; and one
of the chief sources was, and still is, in the extra
royalties or '^ pickings'' which can be dragged in
an ever rising scale from village opium-den&

The few examples quoted only serve to indicate
some of the vested interests which will be found
in the inert mass of those lying in the way of any
attempt to curtail the supply or use of opiimi.

Whether the Chinese Government, hitherto a
synon3an for conservatism of the most harmful
kind, is likely to succeed in the crusade it has
initiated against opium - smoking time alone can
show.

If it is willing to supply adequate guarantees
that the attempt is a sincere one, made solely for
the good of the people, then indeed has China

NEED OF IRBIGATIOK. 281

awoke to the evil, and it is England's destiny
once more to stand for progress and the right and
to help to the utmost of her ability.

The strip of country traversed throughout this
portion of the journey should be divided for the
purpose of gauging its agricultural value into two
distinct districts.

The former consists of the country north-west
of the Wu-shi-ling, already referred to as the
highest point between Peking and Urumtsi, and
the latter of all the country south-east of the
pass.

The difference lies, perhaps, not so much in the
fertility of the soil as in the more general settle-
ment of the southern portion which naturally
ensures a heavier production. In any case the
two portions differ materially, and that much in
favour of the southern. From An-si-chou to the
Wu-shi-ling there are fertile belts, also many hun-
dreds of acres of land far superior to much that
is heavily cultivated in other portions of China.
Were the same ceaseless care bestowed on much of
what is now waste and bog-land as is given, say,
to the eastern portion of Shan-tung, a notoriously
poor province, the result would, I venture to think,
be astonishing.

Of water there is no lack at certain seasons, but
irrigation would need the same care and fore-
thought as is bestowed upon it in other parts of
China. Of what can be done by this means, the
famous irrigation works of the Chengtu plain in
Szechewan province are the standing example.

The cost of labour in the area under description

282 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

would be found to vary more than usual, as it was
required in town or country. Taking as an ex-
ample Lan-chou, the provincial capital, the pres-
ence there of a large number of officials who
employ a correspondingly increased number of
servants and hangers-on, is one cause which tends
to raise the price of wages.

The existence of the extensive tobacco industry
is another. Away from the town labour is natur-
ally cheaper, but anywhere "on the road" prices
are apt to be higher than in an ordinary agricul-
tural district in China. It is a well-known fact
that travellers on the whole are good payers, and
the tips expected by the carters, the innkeepers,
and others connected with the road, maintain a
higher scale of payments than in ordinary Chinese
life.

Most of the travelling is done by means of broad
two-wheel carts, known in other parts of the East
as araha. They have an axle - width of sixty
inches with wheels either fifty -three or seventy-
eight inches high. Some of the travelling carts
in use by high officials or even well-to-do merchants,
though cumbersome, are fitted up with no little
comfort. Invariably roofed with matting, most
have besides both front and back shut in with
the same materials or with heavy curtains. I
have seen some carts boarded fore and aft, with
a small wood door and glass window. The inside
is also made as comfortable as circumstances will
allow. On the floor are felts, cotton-stuffed mat-
tresses, and cushions, to the depth of ten or twelve
inches; while the sides within the matting are

CHINESE CARTERS. 283

hung with heavy blankets or curtains. Small
charcoal braziers are carried, as well as brass
hand-warmers ; and these, with a lantern, candles,
and the inevitable pipe, do all that is possible to
render bearable the monotony of a journey which
few beside Chinese could stand.

The Peking cart is sometimes used, but when
seen has more often than not been placed on the
wider axle.

For agricultural work the carts are drawn by
cattle or mules. On the road, either by ponies
or mules.

As a carter, the Chinaman born to the road is
facile princeps ; and it was one of our daily pleasures
with a certain set of drivers to watch them swing
in through the narrow inn-yards, thread their way
with a cracking of whips like pistol shots through
a maze of loose animals and empty carts, to pull up
exactly at the most convenient angle, with back to
the hovel door, to enable the baggage to be un-
loaded. Strings of camels are to be seen here and
there, and these are sometimes in charge of the
wild -looking tribesmen from the Sirtin border
towards the Tsai Dam.

On the last two days before reaching Lan-chou
the route ran through a bewildering mass of low
hills and valleys of loess formation, whose average
height is about 6500 feet above sea-leveL This
district is sparsely populated owing to lack of
water, but it contains another and curious type
of fort of refuge. These are only found at rare
intervals when collections of farms are spread in
some valley in which water allows of cultivation

284 or THB FOOTEnCBFS OF ICABOO POLO#

and human ezistonoa In general appearance the
refiiges are more like a miniatare of the weIl-*know&
finrteees at Gwalior in Central India than anything
I have seen.

The usual site is on the summit of the steqiest
and most iBolated hfll-top in the vicinity <»f the
farmstead.

Here, perched some 400 to 600 feet above the
▼alley, such refuges are almost impregnable. The
usual approach to them is by a mere goat-tracdc up
the most steep and least accessible spur which runs
from the hill -top. Owing to the gradient, never
less steep than 1 in 4 or 1 in 3, the approach k
simply a series of sharp lagzags, to mount whid^
it is necessary for the ordinary man to use botii
hands and knees. When the top has thus been
reached, it is seen that the summit of the hill has
been artificially flattened ; also, that the sides of the
fortress, which from a distance appear to be walls,
are in reality the sheer scarped hill. In some of
the forts there are two walls, the lower made by
leaving a small berm at the foot of the first wall.
The hillside is then again scarped all round to a
depth of twenty feet or more, which represents a
second wall. To obtain entrance, a tunnelled way
is usually driven from outside the lower wall right
into the interior of the fort, but there are some into
which I have climbed where the only method of
obtaining entrance waa, in old days, by being drawn
up in a basket on a rope, or in the present day to
ascend by means of holes cut for the hands and
feet in the sheer wall.

After traversing the intricate stretch of loess

LAN-CHOU. 286

country, in which the curious forts described above
are to be found, the track emerges suddenly into the
valley of the great Yellow River, a day's march from
Lan-chou.

The provincial capital stands on the right bank,
over which the north wall hangs in an impressive
and picturesque manner.

By far the wealthiest and most striking town
visited by our party anjrwhere until Peking itself
was reached, Lan-chou deserves some description,
even at the risk of wearying the reader with a surfeit
of Chinese towns.

The capital is situated at the narrowest point in
the centre of a basin-like valley surrounded by high
hills. At the point where Lan-chou spreads its
length along the river-bank this valley contracts to
about a mile in width. Here the Yellow River has
forced its way through a cross range, and together
with the town, which extends at this spot some
1000 yards from north to south, it almost blocks
the narrow opening. East and west of Lan-chou
the valley has a total length of some nine miles,
while it broadens on either side of the town to a
width of two-and-a-half to three mile& At the
eastern end the Yellow River once more forces
a path through the soft loess hills, to continue
throughout its vast length a standing memorial to
Chinese inertia and hateful conservatism. Com-
monly known as ''China's Sorrow," what a waste
of power and means of livelihood to thousands does
the neglect of any attempt at control throughout
its course entail!

From the north-west Lan-chou is approached by

286 m THB FOOTSTEPS OF ICABOO POLO.

a bridge of boats or a ferry, according to the seaaon
of the year. Opposite the town the river has a
width of nearly 300 yards, and at the time of our
crossing had not long thawed. The winter pass-
age is made on the ice; and not a few lives are
annually lost at the time it breaks up, owing to
the carelessness of those who persist in attempt*
ing to make use of the ice-road long after it is
unsafa

The annual construction and opening of the boat-
bridge is attended with no little SchU. The chief
magistrate and others take part in the ceremony,
which may in a small way be compared to the
ancient Venetian custom, also a yearly one, of the
marrying of the Adriatic by the reigning Doge.

On arrival we were met by Mr Andrew, the head
of the China Inland Mission, and one of its other
membera To Mr Andrew's kindness we owe a debt
of gratitude not easily repaid ; and the week spent
in taking a thorough rest in the hospitable home
over which Mrs Andrew presides will always
remain as one of the brightest memories of our
long journey.

Previous to starting from Leh I had made
arrangements that our party should be met upon
reaching Lan-chou by two orderlies from the
Chinese Regiment at Wei-hai-wei, also by an old
and valued ma-fu (groom) of my own. At Lan-
chou we found the party safely installed awaiting
our arrival, and heard with regret that Captain
Ruxton, of the Chinese Regiment, who bad brought
them with him, had been obliged, owing to the
delay in our arrival, to return alone to Peking.

A POWERFUL OFFICIAL. 287

During the week spent at the capital our time was
fully occupied in seeing as much of the life of the
town and its busy population as possible.

The usual exchange of visits with the high
officials took place, and we were most hospitably
entertained by the Nieh-T&i (provincial judge) at a
Chinese dinner, in the unavoidable absence of the
Viceroy.

The Nieh-T&i takes rank in Chinese magisterial
precedence next but one to the Provincial Governor.
He is therefore an enormous power for good or evil,
enlightenment or anti-reform, throughout the wide
territory over which his powers extend. Fortun-
ately for the area over which our new friend
exercises jurisdiction, even more for the sake of
the members of the missions at Lan-chou and
throughout the province, the Nieh-T&i of Eansu
bears a high character.

Upon our arrival at his official yamen to accept
his hospitality, in such state as we could muster, he
received us himself in the most courteous manner.
In appearance he is an old and venerable-looking
gentleman of high class, sixty-seven years of age,
and, as we soon discovered, pro-foreign in his ideas
and hopes. So openly does he expose his opinions
that he has had constructed in the yamen three
semi -European reception-rooms, where our dinner
took place. The right-hand man of the Nieh-T&i is
a certain Mr Chiang, who combines in his own able
person the offices of head of the provincial telegraph
department, that of secretary to the wax -yuan
(bureau for foreign affiBurs), besides which he is
secretary to the Nieh-T&i. Mr Chiang is an

288 m THB FOOISTBFS OF ICABOO FQLO.

enlightened and progressive Ghinaman of a good
^jirpe. He was bom at Hong-Kong, and is by birth
a British subjeet, though he naturally does not care
to say too much about the &ct in pubUa During
the 1900 rising he was most fiiendly to the CSiina
Inland Mission, incurring no little odium am<mg hk
compatriots owing to the constant visits he paid to
the mission. Mr Chiang speaks English fiurly
well, lapsing into Chinese if the right words wiU
not come.

Another of the four Chinese officials at the dinner
was a gentlbman who spoke excellent French. Bb
had been on the staff of the Chinese Ambassador m
Paris for five years, and evidently retained most
tender memories of his time in the gayest dty in
the world. As we know, it is the unexpected that
usually happens, and never was this more fercifalf
brought home to the writer than when he tomA
himself a guest at a Chinese dinner in the far west
of Kansu, discussing with his neighbour at table the
art treasures of Versailles and the Louvre gallery,
not to mention some of the more mundane joys to be
found in the French capital. The other and chief
host at the dinner was the second grandson of the
Nieh-T4i who, when the old gentleman retired after
about an hour, took his grandfather's place. The
latter is a well-bom lad, and looks it. He has been
taught a little English by a member of the China
Inland Mission, but cannot yet talk it. Besides
Captain Layard and myself, the other guests present
were the members of the mission. It was not with-
out some difficulty that we were able to persuade
Mr Andrew to accept such an invitation, and then

MI8SIONABIB8 OF CULTUBB. 289

only because he allowed himself to be guided by our
view of the matter.

Eeferring for the moment to the question of influ-
ence which missionaries in China can exercise. In
the opinion of the writer, the higher the class they
can influence the more likelihood of a permanent
impression being made, and surely the more fixed
that impression will be for good.

If such intellectual men as the Nieh-T&i and his
stafl" are ready to receive and recognise in a firiendly
spirit those who in such far-distant places stand for
all that is ideally best in the European ethical code,
would it not be a direct surrender of an advantage
which ought to be seized to neglect every oppor-
tunity of meeting such men ?

It was by means of such arguments that we were
able to persuade Mr Andrew to waive his personal
feelings that his place was not at such a gathering,
and to allow that our view was correct Nothing
could have been more marked than the respect paid
to the members of the mission who accompanied us,
— Mr Andrew, Dr Julius Hewett, Mr Preedy, and
Mr Kennett.

The suite of rooms already referred to where
dinner w« «r™d w«, nic,l/famirf,«i, de«»ted
in good taste, and painted whita The windows
opening on to an inner courtyard were of glass,
and here a large crowd of the usual yamen loafers
remained during a considerable part of the meal,
with their fieu^es glued to the panes.

The room walls were hung with Japanese-made
maps, well executed, of various foreign countries.
Also, with large cards of numerous wild and domestic

290 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ICABOO POLO.

animalsi such as axe seen in Board schools, equally
well got up, and having under each their scientific
names in Latin. The meal itself would have done
credit to the Bitz, being d la Chinais for the most
part, but beautifully cooked ; and to make matters
quite easy for us, forks and spoons were provided
as well as ivory chopHsticks.

Here for some two hours East and West met
simply on the plane of educated men, and a more
intwesting and at the same time instructive little
experience I have rarely taken part in. Hardly
worthy of mention in itself, the episode is merely
quoted as an example of what a little Western
experience will do, even in the farthest wilds, when
imbibed by educated and progressive Chinese gentle-
men. In such tjrpes as are represented by Mr
CShiang and the official connected with the Chinese
Ambassador in Paris lies the hope of the present
advance of China upon modem linea If encouraged
by those in authority, and if upheld at all times
and on every possible occasion by the sympathy and
backing of the Ministers of the great European
Powers at Peking, there is no saying but that in
the end some impression may be made upon the
hide-bound conservatism usually to be found among
the Chinese official class.

Among the innovations introduced imder the
present Administration is a so-called modem police
force. This consists of a body of six hundred men,
of whom four hundred are old soldiers, and two
hundred fresh enlistments. The force is dressed in
the new style of clothing, — in their case of a black
colour. In this uniform the ancient and grotesque

A DRILL-FARADS. 291

*' target " coat gives place to a not unpleasing short
coat and breeches of a semi- Chinese cut, but the
latter garment is tucked into the usual worthless
cloth boota The pay of these men is said to be
from three taels sixty cents to four taels thirty cents
per man. This is a considerable advance upon the
old style of wages, and the probability is that the
men do receive the larger portion of it.

The troops, of which there are some 1500 to 2000
men, are '* foreign," drilled by Chinese instructors,
and badly armed. They are in possession of a few
old mortars, which are pulled by ponies; and to
show how easily incorrect reports arise, I may say
that these were reported to us by a European, before
we had seen them, as machine-guns on mules.

During our stay we had plenty of opportunity of
seeing the troops at work, and at Lan-chou they are
kept at it. The main barracks, or camps as they
are usually called in China, are situated outside the
town, beyond the east gate. Here we visited the
square mud forts, surrounded each by a dry moat,
and also watched the troops at drilL The men were
on the whole a fairly good stamp ; a few bore the
unmistakable mark of confirmed opium - smokers.
The drill was confined almost entirely to firing end-
less volleys by companies with blank cartridge, also
to independent firing in a few simple parade forma-
tions. All the men were armed with the old muzzle-
loading cap musket. No officers were present on
parade, only drill-instructors and non-commissioned
officers. The latter, to the number of one or two
per company, carried no arms, but instead a bright
red triangular flag, two feet six inches by two feet

292 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

wide. The men wore a short black coat like the
police, with the addition of a scarlet apron right
across the front of the coat. In the apron are two
small pockets for ammunition, useful no doubt, but
a finer mark than the apron to draw a bead upon up
to a thousand yards' distance could not have been
invented. For the information of the uninitiated, it
may be added that the movements were performed
^* on markers," also that a very useful beating of the
men by the instructors went on all the time. As
the weapon used was a good solid stick, like a pace-
stick, even the wadded black coat can have been but
slight protection. Among the camps we inspected
was one used by the cavalry {ma -ping, horse
soldiers). It was said to contain one chi (two
hundred men), but actually held between twenty
and thirty.

In one of the infantry camps visited we made the
acquaintance of a junior officer. Him we asked if
there were any modern rifles. He replied that there
were, and at once sent for one, explaining at the
same time that each chi had its two hundred rifles,
but that they were always kept locked up, and the
men trained with the old kind. Typically Chinese
as this procedure is, it has even a worse side than
might at first be apparent. In China most things
which are kept locked up have a knack of disappear-
ing before long for cash received. As regards the
training with the old rifle, comment is needless.

Among the arms kept in reserve is the ancient
" two-man " tripod gun. This is not even a hammer
gun, but is fired by applying a piece of burning rope
to the touch- hole.

A SILENT FACTORY. 293

There is a modem arsenal at Lan-cbou which em-
ploys about a hundred men. They are looked after
by a foreman trained at the well-known Shanghai
arsenal. Eight taels a -month is the handsome
wage paid each man, while the foreman receives
thirty taels.

The manager was a pleasant gentleman from
Shansi province, who, after showing the way round,
entertained us to tea. Very little work is now
done beyond the turning of old Chinese jingals
into a somewhat modem edition of the same thing.
In another part of the arsenal buildings we received
a great surprise on being shown the complete and
most costly machine plant for an entire European
wool factory.

It transpired that the plant had been erected
fifteen years ago by a former progressive Viceroy,
at an evident expenditure of thousands of pounds.
There are engine-houses and engines, looms, carding
machines, cleansinxr and pressing; machines — in fact,
aU the necessari^of an up-to date factory worked
entirely by steam-power ; even the leather-driving
belts of the machinery, some two feet wide, still re-
mained ; and though the whole is now in indifferent
repair, no doubt much of the machinery could still
be made use of. The Viceroy ordered the plant
from Europe, and his successor stopped it working
after a short period. The latter has now passed
away, and the present Viceroy has commissioned
Mr Splingardt, the Belgian gentleman already
mentioned as in the service of the Chinese, to
bring out from Europe two mechanics capable of
looking after the whole factory.

294 IN THB FOOTBTEFS 07 liABOO POIiD.

Tbe town of Lan-chou is known tfarooi^ioat
China for two things : the first, tiie beauty of its
women ; the seoond, the fragranoe of its toliamou

If the overwhehning superiority olftioiad fer hMk
these distinctions were to be judged hy a Eiaopeaii
standard, less, perhaps, would have been beaid
of the one in Chinese poetry, and of the otiier
wherever votari^ of the watw-pipe do congxegate.

Known throughout the whole of China fi»r its
excellent tobacco, the town subsists to a large
extent upon its manu&cture. As it happeiMd, we
had an unusually good opportunity of beoomiog
acquamted with the product of the industoey, as
before arriving at Chakalik in Chinese Tuzkeirtaii
we had consumed all the English tobacco bcoii|^
tcoxDL Leh*

At Chakalik we received, as a present from tiie
Amban, a small quantity of tiie finest Laa^^diQa
tobacco of the red kind. I have seen it stoted
that this cannot be smoked except in the Chinese
water-pipe, and am aware that it is intended for
consimiption in that manner. At the same time,
necessity knows no binding laws, and for a con-
siderable period our briars were fed with nothing
else, though we found what we called ^' tbe desert
mixture '^ an improvement upon the plain Lan-chou
tobacco. The mixture contained three parts of
common Turki tobacco, something like that used
by the Boers, with enough of the very pungent
red Chinese to give it a taste.

Like most things in China, the Lan-chou tobacco
industry is still worked on prehistoric lines, and
it is difficult to say what the increased value of

CHINB8B TOBACCO. 296

the trade might be were more modem methods
introduced. Taking as one example the caking
of both qualities. In course of manufacture the
tobacco requires pressing in order to attain the
flat oblong shape in which the cakes are packed
for despatch all over China. This phase of the
preparation is carried out in an open yard of the
usual kind, where filth of every description may or
may not accumulate. So also is another and earlier
phase — viz., that of picking over the raw lea£
Women are chiefly employed at this work, the
open yard again supplying the workshop, and the
exceedingly dirty floor the sorting place.

The only machinery in use for pressing — though
the word in no sense can really be applied^-consists
of an enormous rough beam, some thirty feet in
length and eighteen inches to two feet in diameter.
The beam is up-ended upon a supporting structure.
At the base huge stones are fastened under the
beam in order to weight it down, while at what
may be called the hammer -end more stones are
placed on the baulk, ropes also being attached.
The structure resembles, on a gigantic scale, the
usual erection common throughout the East for
drawing water from a welL The bale of tobacco,
already partially pressed, is now placed in a rough
wood casing underneath where the top-end of the
huge beam will fall, and the latter is jerked up
and down, after the manner seen in pile -driving,
by three or four men laying on to the ropes
attached to the beam.

Were the tobacco industry at Lan-chou a mere
local trade there might, even in Chinese eyes, be

296 IN THB TfOOnmXBB OF lUBOD SOLD.

some reaaottfor stiU retainixig these udiftio meliii^
but when it is said that the export trade pecmei^es
to the fiyrthest oomers of theb vast empire^ oven
to Singapore and such distant places where waaltiby
Chinese can afford to pay for what they ooiudkkr
a luxury, the wilful retention of such a hqpelesdy
antiquated system can only be described as a fiedi
injustice, if not to ** ould Ireland,'' at any rale to
Europe in general There are two kinds of tofaaceo
made, known as the red and the green, nor is Hie
colour by any means fidnt, strange as it may sooad
to our ideas. The red tobacco is known as ^ui^'fen
(watw-pipe), the green as frosted, from the prooess
which entidls not picking the leaf until the eaily
frosts have touched the plants.

As a specimen of the wages earned it may be
interesting to note that the amount paid to tiie
women who follow the industry is 300 cash a-day ;
but at Tsin-chau, a neighbouring town where the
industry is also a feature, the women in winter
receive 400 cash a-month and their daily food.

In this apparently abnormal difference may be
read the secret of the hard struggle for actual
existence which confronts so many of the lower
orders in China. Dally bread, or, it should be
said, daily rice, is the be-all and end-all of existence
to millions, and once assured, any extra remunera-
tion is more or less of a luxury.

Before quitting Lan-chou mention should be made
of another town with which it is intimately con-
nected. The latter stands close to the Tibet border,
and both politically and from the point of view of
trade, Si-ning has a considerable importance.

THB FUTURE OF KAN8U. 297

As the place of residence of one of the high
Buddhist dignitaries, Si-ning is also a religious
centre, ranking not so very far behind Lhasa.
Connection is maintained with the Tibetan capital
by means of traders and pilgrims who pass between
the two pointa It has also importance as the
centre of such authority as the Chinese represent-
atives there can maintain over the wild people of
the Eoko Nor.

The future prosperity of Elansu province, and
that of its perhaps better known neighbour, Sze-
chuan, are features in the exploitation of China
which will loom largely in a few years' time.

As the interior of the vast empire becomes
gradually opened up to European trade, the former
province cannot be ignored by our own merchants.
Already fed to some extent by trading houses
established at Tientsin, the advent of a railway
will give those who have been bold enough to
push their business so far a much increased stake
in Northern Chinese markets. At the present
moment it may be said that Russia commands
the trade of Chinese Turkestan, also that she
is prepared to make a bid for that of North-
West Eansu. It may be said that both in bulk
and importance the amount of merchandise which
Chinese Turkestan at present takes is insignifi-
cant, yet while aware of the fact I still see in
the future a prospect worth striving after.

Geographically the natural limit of trade expan-
sion in North- West China is bounded for Russia
and for our own merchants by the strip of desert
dividing Hami firom An-si-chau. As far as An-

298 m THS TO0T8TSF8 07 ICABOO TOIAi

oi-chau should be made safe gnrand Ibr oar im-
pcnrters. CSlinese Turkestan may at pre a on t be
considered as out of reach.

In a previous chaptw mention has been made
of the mineral wealth, coal, oil, and possibfy some
gold which North- West Kansu contaiim. In the
event of these being found to the ecdieiit the
writer believes them to be present^ soflBdent
wealth should be put in circulation locally to
allow of a large increase in the money avaOable
for importing foreign goods. Even now the exist*
ence of the wool &ctory seen at Lan-choa dbows
what enlight^ied Chinese minds thought of the
prospects of trade so &r back as fifteen years
ago. And given a free hand and a guarantee
horn interference, the Chinese merchant makes
few mistakes.

Of Sse-chuan the writer is unable to speak from
personal experience, but the question of inter-pro-
vincial trade between Lan-chou and Chun-king was
among those discussed with men familiar on the
spot with its difficulties.

The route given as now most generally made use
of for inter-communication is as follows : —

Lanchau to Kung-cb&ng on the upper waters of
the Wei river, thence to Tsln-chau, situated on
the northern side of the Tsin-ling mountains.
These are then crossed to Hui, a Hsien town
on the uppermost waters of the Kialing river,
down which the descent is made to Pai-shui-
kiang, Pao-ning, and so to Chung-king itself, on
the Yang-tse river. The lower reaches of the

INTER-PEOVINCIAL TRAFFIC. 299

Kialing river are weU known. I was informed
that boats of six to seven feet draught could reach
Pai-shui-kiang, also on good authority that small
steamers could make the ascent, but this was con-
tradicted by others who should know, on the score
that rapids prevented any steam traffic in the
highest waters.

800

CHAPTER XIV.

▲ WOK AT LAXr-OHOU— THS PBOBUDC OF TBM LOUS lORMATflWr—
BZOHTHOUH'B XHIOBT— OOHTBASni OF BOBHBBT— DUFIOUIA UHSO-
KOSZOV — OAMIL OASiLYAHS -— ▲ HI8T0BZ0AL BBSBOfinOt*— A

DAircanious iwuir— oatx yxLLAais— a Bmcora oathouo ifoniov

—A QUAXHT OBLATIOV— OHIVG-TANa-n— A BUCABKABLI TWOtWU
—A UHIWWI IVAHHOB.

A week's rest at Lan-chou with the, to ua, im-
accustomed luxuries of a decent roof over our
heads, deanliness, and warmth, had put freeh life
into the whole party.

It was now the I7th of March, and since the
4th of August of the previous year, the day upon
which our caravan moved out of Srinagar, we
had marched ahnost daUy, camped nightly, always
pushing ahead. Enjoyable as such a life is, in
spite of the natural obstacles which cannot be
evaded, constant exposure, and the thousand and
one small troubles incident to such a chance exist-
ence, cannot but tell on the physical endiurance of
the most robust. At Lan-chou more than half the
journey had been safely accomplished, and the
results had so far been satisfactory. Before us
now lay only the crossing of China, and as at
last spring seemed to be approaching, we looked
forward to the continuance of our outdoor life

<f.<

A GEOLOGICAL PROBLEM. 301

for another two months with feelings of hopefiil
expectation. The usual route followed from Lan-
chou to Peking has already been described. In order
to cover new ground altogether, our intention was
to strike north and east for Peking, across Kansu,
Shensi, and Shansi provinces^ where roads are un-
known and where towns hardly exist.

In the researches into the commercial and physical
conditions of Northern China, made by Baron Bicht-
hofen, the eminent geologist, so long ago as 1870,
was included a most detailed account of the loess
formation, nowhere more capable of being studied
than in the area under discussion.

To any student of physical geography few more
interesting problems are afforded than that of the
loess formation, which overlies almost the whole of
North China, nor is any apology necessary for quot-
ing in extenso what Baron Bichthofen has written
of it. From experience of a very wide extent of
country, and including as they do the matured
opinion of one of the best known scientists where
the nature of this stratum is concerned, his views
may be taken as one of the most important contri-
butions ever made towards the understanding of
this curious physical occurrence.

''Every one who has walked in the vicinity of
Ching-kiang, on the Yang-tse river,'' wrote Baron
Bichthofen, ''will recollect the yellow hiUs which
surround that city, in which the Ching-kiang branch
of the grand canal is deeply cut. They consist of
loess, which is there about 200 feet thick. The
same formation composes a large portion of what
is generaUy called the great plain, and it forms

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO FOIO.

probably a broad belt, intervening between it and
the surrounding hilla. It appears not to exist iD
Soutbern Cbtna or Sze-chuan, and is but little
developed on tbe Yang-tse above Nanking, and
on the Han, but spreads over all the northeni
provinces, covering everything where it has not
been carried away by water. In Shansi I found
it spread equally over table-lands 6000 feet high,
and valleys several thousand feet less in altitude
Along my route through Honan it composes the
table -land between Ju-chau and Honan-fu, and
envelops on all sides the lower portion of the
ranges of the Sung-ahan. The bottom land of
the Lo-ho ib bounded on both sides by vertical
cliffs of loess, and the same formation reaches,
on the southern side of the valley, to the height
of more than 1200 feet. The southern bank of
the Yellow River consists entirely of loess.

" The peculiar feature of this formation is to
spread alike over places which differ much in
altitude, and, therefore, to fill the gaps between
hills, to smooth away the uneven surfaces of the
mountainous countries, and to create the condi-
tions for agriculture and prosperity where they
would not exist without it. From descriptions
given by Chinese, who apply the specific name
of hwang-tu to the loess, it appears that the
same formation exists on a still grander scale in
Shensi, making up the slopes of the broad valley
of the Wei river and the entire country of the
Ordos ; and it spreads, probably as a cover of
gi-eat thickness, far into Kansu and Central Asia.
It is the loess which gives to the Hwang-ho its

LOESS. 303

yellow colour. Larjre quantities of it are washed
Lwn ftom the hillfb;ev«y ram, and ar. carnkl
by the rivers into the plains, and ultunately into
the sea. The sediments which constitute the great
plain, and render the Gulf of Pechili and the Yellow
Sea so shallow, are chiefly derived irom the de-
struction of the cover of loess.

'' The loess is among the various substances which
would commonly be called ' loam,' because it is
earthy and has a brownish-yellow colour. It can
be rubbed between the fingers to an impalpable
powder, which disappears in the pores of the skin,
some grains of very fine sand only remaining. By
mechanical destruction, such as is caused by cart-
wheels on a road, it is converted into true loam.
When in its original state it has a certain solidity,
and is very porous, and perforated throughout its
mass by thin tubes, which ramify, like the roots
of grass, and have evidently their origin in the
former existence of roota They are incrusted
with a film of carbonate of lime. Water, which
forms pools on loam, enters therefore into loess as
into a sponge, and percolates it without in the
least converting it into a pulp or mud. The loess
is everywhere full of organic remains, but I have
never seen any other than land-shells, bones of land
animals, and the numberless impressions of roots
and planta It is not stratified, but has a strong
tendency to cleave along vertical planes. There-
fore, wherever a river cuts into it the loess abuts
against it, or against its alluvial bottom-land, in
vertical cliffs, which are in places 500 feet high;
above them the slopes recede gradually in a series

304 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARCO POLO.

of terraces with perpendicular fi:ont &ces. Where
the river washes the foot of such a wall the
progress of destruction is rapid ; the cliff is under-
mined, and the loess breaks off in vertical sheets,
which tumble into the stream, to be carried down
by the water. Such is the case along the southern
bank of the Yellow River near Kung-hien and
Sz'shui-hien. and probably in many other portions
of its course. The beds of the affluents which join
the river in these places are no less deeply cut
into the loess, and ramify into its more elevated
portions like the roots of a tree, every small branch
a steep and narrow gulch. It would lead us too
far astray from the objects of this letter to describe
more in detail the exceedingly curious features
which the scenery of a region composed of loess
presents. Among the most noteworthy is this,
that it gives habitation to many millions of human
beings. You walk on the richly cultivated bottom-
land of a river, and yet do not see a single himian
dwelling. But as soon as you approach the pre-
cipitous wall of loess on either side, you find it
thronged with people like a beehive. They live
in excavations made in the loess.

"As regards the mode of origin of this formation,
the loess of China, like that of Europe (where it
exists on a comparatively small scale), has been
supposed to be a freshwater deposit. This suppo-
sition is erroneous as regards the loess of Northern
China, because it extends equally over hills and
valleys, and does not contain freshwater shells.
Others have therefore considered it as a marine
deposit. This view is more erroneous even than

AN ANCISNT PRAIRIE. SOS

the former, because it would presuppose the whole
of Northern China to have been submerged at
least 6000 feet beneath the level of the sea in
a recent epoch, while there is abundant evidence
to prove that such has not been the case. Nor
can the theory current in (Germany, that the loess
of that country was produced by glacial action, be
at all applied to the loess of Northern China, from
various obvious reasons too lengthy to explain
here. Unbiassed observation leads irresistibly to
the conclusion that the loess of China has been
formed on dry land. The whole of that vast
country, which was covered by a continuous sheet
of loess, before this had undergone destruction
was one continuous prairie, probably of greater
elevation above the sea than the same region is
now. The loess is the residue of all inorganic
matter of numberless generations of plants that
drew new supplies incessantly frt)m those sub-
stances which ascending moisture and springs
carried in solution to the surface. This slow
accumulation of decayed matter was assisted by
the sand and dust deposited through infinite ages
by winds. The land-^ells are distributed through
the whole thickness of the loess, and their state
of preservation is so perfect that they must have
lived on the spot where we now find them. They
certainly admit of no other explanation than that
here hinted at, of the formation of the soil in
which they are imbedded. The bones of land
animals, and chiefly the roots of plants, which are
all preserved in their natural and oriirinal position,
giv; corroborative evidence. This is not thTplaoe

306 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POIjO.

to carry these geological deductions further than
I have done. I hope that what I have said in
regard to the loess will contribute to direct the
attention of travellers in Northern China to this
interesting formation, fi:om the study of ii^hieh we
may expect valuable data for the knowledge of
the condition of things in China in prehistoric
and early historic times.

** The practical importance of the loess is hased
on some of its prominent properties. In the first
place, it is a productive soil. If Northern China
had a more favoiurajble climate it w^ould rank
among the most productive countries in the v^orld,
on account of the general distribution of the loesa
It is very probable that it did rank high in this
respect in early historic times, when the mountains
were wooded and kept the climate moist. The
entire surface of the loess is at present undei^r
cultivation. But owing to its property of being
easily percolated by water, it needs more frequent
and prolonged rains than most other kinds of soil,
and if rain fails in time of sowing, then the tilled
ground will be carried away by the winds, the
seeds exposed to the sun, and not germinate at
all. I travelled for days through regions where
such had been the case this year, and the other-
wise fertile country had an extremely arid aspect.
Another important property is the tendency to
vertical cleaving. It creates the conditions for
cheap dwellings, of which a large proportion of
the population avail themselves. To it, too, is due
the rapid progress of denudation. The rivers
which carry away the loess separate it into its

CONTRASTS IN SCENERY. 307

constituent parts — viz., the sand, the loam, and
the carbonate of lima The latter is probably
carried in solution into the sea, while the very
fine sand and the loam are separately redeposited,
creating here an arid soil, and there a fertility
which exceeds that of the loess itself. The sandy
regions prevail where the rivers emerge fix>m the
mountains, while the rich alluvial loam is carried
to the lower country. It would be of interest to
have a geological map of the great plain, with
the formations of loess, sand, and alluvial loam
marked separately."

The portion of these provinces through which
our route lay consists of a series of plateaux of
an average height of 4000 feet, scored and cut
in all directions by valleys, stream-beds, and dry
gorges, almost entirely composed of loess.

The only regularity, fix>m a geographical point
of view, is found in two open vaUeys which run
nearly due north and south — the first containing
the telegraph-line fix)m Ping-liang to Ning-hsia,
which we traversed near the village of Wang-
chia - tan - chuang ; the second is the Ping - yang
valley, fix>m whence we crossed into the valley
of the Huan-ho.

As usual in a loess country, the absence of trees
and undergrowth is most marked ; at the same time,
stretches of quite another character were found.
Near Ping -yang, in Eastern Eansu, the hills are
utterly devoid of trees or even bushes, but the
valleys and low hillsides are under cultivation ;
and there are grassy coombs where several thou-

308 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP MABOO POLO.

sands of sheep and long black -haired goats were
seen grazing.

After leaving Ching-yang-fu, which stands just
inside the eastern border of Kansu, an entire and
striking physical change in the nature of the
country-side occurs. The low banks of the stream
we were following were covered with beautiful
turf, the valley -sides became wooded and filled
with brushwood, and the country seemed to lose
to a great extent its loess character. As we
proceeded, the wooded area increased ; and thou^
the effect was sombre, owing to the absence of
foliage not yet out, the contrast to the bare
loess hills was very marked. By the afternoon
of the same day we found ourselves riding
through a district which resembled the country
near Aldershot on the side of the Ash rangea

Although the face of the ground did not vaiy^
the track, such as it was, still leading over ridge
after ridge and descending into valley after valley,
yet as far as the eye reached could be seen trees,
brushwood, and thickets of thorn. Strange as it
may sound so to describe any loess country,
especially in Northern China, the view which lay
before us as we crossed from ridge to ridge re-
minded one of nothing so much as the Surrey
hills round Godalming or Hindhead in their dreary
winter garb. A week before it had been impos-
sible to imagine such a country in East Kansu.
Even when the Catholic brothers, at the tiny
mission of San-shi-li, near Ching-yang-fu, spoke of
"Plateaux avec des forSts et des lacs bien pr^
et beaucoup de sangliers de cerfs et de leopards,"

A CHINB8E SURRET. 309

it hardly appeared credible; yet, that day as we
rode there, before us was ground such as might
well hold all the game mentioned.

Pheasants so common we had never seen in
China, as they basked on the banks of the
streams or rocketted across from one valley -side
to the other. Oak, hawthorn, and other trees of
that tribe, wild apricot, cedar, evergreens, lilac, and
many more shrubs, made lovely spots of colour,
and such contrasts as one had never hoped to see
in this wild district

Another and, as it seems from Bichthofen's de-
scription of the loess districts he had visited, an
unusual occurrence, was the quantity and wide
distribution of the rocky outcrop met with. True,
it was almost entirely confined to the stream
valleys and the ravines in their vicinity; but all
round and on both sides on the adjacent plateaux
was the pure loess.

Many of the most charming bits, fit)m the point
of view of a lover of nature, were seen where the
rock cropped through. In one valley a huge
mass of broken debris had fallen fit)m the over-
hanging cliff, almost blocking the narrow track
which wound alongside the stream. All about
the face of the cliff the wild aprioot-trees were
just bursting into bloom ; and mingled with them,
clinging, as they invariably do in that country,
in most inaccessible holes in the cliff- sides, was
the dark rich green of the cedar — both shown
up even more vividly by the dull red of the
broken rock-face behind them.

Penetrating into Shensi, between Ching-yang-fri

310 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP AtABCO POLO.

and Fu-chou, the character of the country again
changes — lapsing into the more bare and treeless
loess as before. The ravines which score ibe
plateaux are more steep and the gradients of tbe
track, if possible, more unkind than ever.

From Fu-chou up to Yen-an-fu the valley sides
and bottoms are again covered with brush trood.

From Yen-an-fu to the Yellow River the loess
once more lies bare, exposed to the eye. From
the summit of a local pass some forty miles west
of the Yellow River a typical view, and a fiDe
one, of that country is obtained over ridge after
ridge of dust-covered hills, if such a coup-dtaA
can be considered a view at alL £ast of the
Yellow River the conformation is the same — tree-
less at first and equally broken, with occasiooal
red soil showing up.

Some fifty miles east of the river the extn*
ordinary transformation once more occurs.

Before reaching a large village — Shih-ko-tzu br
name — the valleys suddenly became thick with
brushwood which, as we progressed, rose on both
sides, spreading over the rounded hill-crests where
is also much coarse gi-ass. East of the same
village commences the iron and coal district, which
continues more or less as far as Cheng-tiug-fu on
the Lu-han railway.

Such is briefly the physical character of the
country during the latter portion of our journev,
and from this description it may he gathered how
exceedingly diflicult locomotion is. The two main
rivers which between them drain the whole arpa
under description are the Yellow River and Wei

A WHITE man's CLDiATB. 311

River — the latter more particularly by meana of
the tributary streams which feed it. The water-
sheds through which the various secondary streams
flow are as broken and scarred as possible. The
plateaux are cut in all directions by valleys, ravines,
and gorges; and for this reason it is hard to
imagine a more hopeless country to traverse — that
is, from west to east, or vice versa. Although in
a loess country such as is described no large lakes
are likely to occur, yet small ones are found in
some of the plateaux, and the illustration on
another page will give some idea of the local
configuration.

As a race there is no difference between the
Chinese of East Eansu, Northern Shensi, and
Central Shensi and those of the provinces north
of the Yang - tse - kiang. Local peculiarities in
dress, habits, and dialect are found, as in most
provinces, but they call for no special remarks.

The climate over the whole of the area latterly
traversed is pre-eminently suitable for a white
man. The winters, though severe on the plateaux,
are less so than in the far west of Eansu, and
the snowfall is never very heavy. In East Eansu
we imagined spring had suddenly come about the
20th of March, when a spell of hot days made a
terai hat almost necessary in the midday sun :
this very soon changed, however, and on the
23rd March the north-east wind was as cutting
as ever.

The following day at 6.30 A.M., inside an open
yard, the thermometer showed a temperature of
3 r ; the ponds were frozen over, and a biting

312 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF UAAOO POIjO.

wiod continued all day. On the 25th of Maick
we woke to find the whole country under snow
once more, though only half an inch deep. Oe
the 27th March the thermometer r^;istered 84'
in the sun at 4 P.M. at a height of 4550 fiset
above sea-level; and skin-coats and furs were
again laid aside as rapidly as they bad Uteljr
been put on.

The first half of April brings the spring runs,
which, though light, are sufficient in the loess swi
to ensure abundant crops. If the rains are short
or do not come, a bad season is usually the result

On the 20th April, in the deep ravines and
stream -beds, the winter snow was still Iving
frozen under the shaded banks. Dust-storms
and high winds were frequent, and made travel-
ling most unpleasant.

The summer season may be said to last from
the end of May or middle of June until the
middle or end of September.

The heat in the plateaux at such an aver&gf
height as 4500 feet above sea-level is never oppres-
sive ; at the same time, so shut-in and sunken an-
the ravines and valleys through which such tracks
as there are lie, that for locomotion in summer,
day-work would probably be found trying.

The inhabitants throughout the area traversed
are not above the ordinary standard of physique,
— in fact, I place them lower than the sturdy coolie
and agricultural class in Shan-tung. At the same
time, they are a fairly hardy-looking race, thougb
the districts are too sparsely inhabited ever to see
even small crowds collected in one place.

VALLEY OF WHEAT. 318

From Lan-chou to Tai-yuan-Ai agriculture exists
just sufficiently to supply the local wants, and in
bad seasons not always that. All deficiencies are
made up from the Wei vaUey, but the plateau
country being thinly inhabited does not need
many crops like the more prosperous southern
provinces. In the districts traversed by us wheat
is the main staple^ being extensively grown wher-
ever the surfiu^, vaUey bottom, or terraced sides
of the loess allow.

Of commerce, except the through traffic between
the great north-west road (from Sian to Lan-chou)
and the Mongolian border towns, there is none.
All the commerce which passes from the coast,
Peking or Tientsin to Lan-chou, and Chinese Turk-
estan, crosses the area under description, but either
north or south of the plateau country.

Of industries there are very few. The area is
entirely agncultural or mineral, the latter to an
extent not even yet acknowledged. Coal, iron,
oil, and probably other minerals, are found in
various sections on the route ; but as yet, except
in Shansi, these have hardly been exploited
at all.

Labour in East Kansu and the Shensi plateaux
is scarce. In Shansi, in the coal and iron districts,
it is abundant.

Of animals for pack -work there are few. On
the plateaux and valley farms, cattle are usually
used for ploughing, donkeys and mules for pack
transport. A large number of camels are seen
working on the north to south pack-trails, chiefly
between San-jnian, near Si-an-fu, and Tsing-pien

•owt^^

314 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF UAJtCO POl

OD the Mongolian border, or ou other trails
the same direction farther west.

Vehicles are of course unknown throughout 1
area traversed by us. From Lan-chou untU 1
edge of the coal district was reached at Tai-chtt
iu Shansi, a bustling little town of some k
importance, wheeled traffic is practically out
the question.

Though numerous camel caravans were b
with, there did not appear to be any advautl
in their use which pony or mule transport d
not provide. In fact, we came to the conclaa
that the latter were preferable even when tb
was a choice. The only natural advantage ti
the use of camels might possess — viz., the carryi
of a large load — is negatived on these tracks
the extraordinary narrowness of the loess cuttil
through which at times they run. All the can
loads seen were cut down to narrow flat packtig
and were laid as even as was possible on 1
animals' backs. Even then there were pla
where it hardly seemed as though a camel-tr
could pass, or could round a corner, the alteruat
being to be hurled over the edge of the khud
the pack struck with the inside load agai
the hill.

The early history of the eastern portion of i
country through which the latter part of i
journey lay is that of China itself, so far as i
earliest history of that wonderful nation is knoi
In the 'Shu-king' (the Chinese historical class
the people of Meaou are mentioned as being
rebellion in the reign of the Emperor Yu - Sh'

AN ANCIENT CHINESE SETTLEMENT. 316

about 2255 B.C. These Meaou were the original
barbaric tribes inhabiting what is now Shansi.

Shansi and Shensi a little later, 2203 b.c. to
1766 B.C., formed part of the Imperial province
then known as the Ki province, under the names
of Liang and Keh.

The Tae-3ruan plain mentioned at the same
period as having been ''set in order" after a
great flood, probably the flood referred to in the
Christian Bible, is that portion of the present
Fen-ho valley between Fen-chou and Ping-yang
in Shansi.

The Liang province of the same era was made
up of part of the modem provinces of Sze-chuan
and Southern Shensi. In those days it teemed
with wild animals, furs and skins forming the
principal articles of tribute. Rhinoceros hides
were conspicuous, - as valuable for armour and
defensive equipment.

The same settlement of the country, about the
dates already mentioned, included territory as far
west as modem Tibet, then known as Seih-chi,
also as far as Kiu-sow to the west of modem
KansiL

Ping-yang in Shansi was the then capital of the
Imperial domain.

In 1106 RC. the completion of Tsung-chow,
the modem Si-an-fu in Shensi, is recorded : it
stood in what was then known as the country
of Lo.

The basin of the Wei river is also known
historically as one of the earliest settled and
most important parts of China.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS 07 KABGO POIiOl

In 1100 B.C. the princedom of Yen, of ^rtli
the capital was in the site of the present city
Peking, is mentioned as having been confefv
on the Duke of Shao, who acted aa co-regent
his nephew the Emperor Cb'eng of the Chi
dynasty, with his brother the celebrated Dal
Chou, a great historical character familiar to )
Chinese students.

Again, during the reign of the Emperor PTi
Wang, circa 770-719 B.C., of the great Cb
dynasty, the capital of the then existing kingdc
was moved from Si-an-fu to Ho-nan-fii in B
nan province.

Shensi province, so far as is knowTi, may
said to represent the Ch'in state, which in t
fifth and fourth centuries B.C. extended
boundaries and consolidated other feudal sta)
into one empire, its ruler founding a new dynaa
— viz., that of Ch'in — about 200 B.C. It is a moi
point if this state did not give to the preee
empire the name of China.

Sze-chuan province was known at least as esj
as the above, from the commencement through
of an overland traffic with India, by way of Asst
and Burmah. It was at that time known as t
Shu state.

In 67 A.D. Buddhism was introduced into Chii
and m later years, during the fourth, fifth, a
sixth centuries A.D., the overland route throu
Chinese Turkestan to India saw many pilgrii
and devotees passing to and fro by the way '
followed through Central Asia.

About 420 A.D. was the epoch of the norths

IN THE TRACK OF WAB. 317

and soutbem dynasties in China when the Toba
Tartars ruled the north and Buddhism ^as a
state religion.

From the sixth to the thirteenth centuries, when
the Mongols conquered China, various divisions of
the land took place, and dynasty succeeded dynasty
without leaving any great mark. From 960 A.D.
until 1127 A.D. the northern and southern Sung
dynasties divided the land and obtained some
notice in history.

From the fall of the Mongol dynasty, when they
were driven out of China in 1868 a.d. and were
succeeded by the Mings, until the present Manchu
d3masty occupied the throne in 1644 A.D., is for
China modem history.

It was during the Mongol dynasty, perhaps, that
the overland route became best known, owing to
the travels of the Venetian brothers, written by
Marco Polo. But to return to our own times.
Throughout the whole of this portion of the journey
the cruel effects of the wholesale devastation of
that wide stretch of Northern China during the
Mohammedan risings are still apparent. Old de-
cayed towns remain, partially inhabited, but
retaining not one tithe of their former greatness ;
though more common still are ruined villages,
earth -grown ramparts, and small towns whose
interior is now actually ploughed-up ground. As
already remarked, what the wastage of life may
have been was probably never known, even to the
Chinese authorities themselves ; but it is as certain
as can be that during the score of years that the
first Mohanunedan rebellion lasted, hundreds of

816 ZH THK VOOIBTEFS OF MABOD FOLa

thousands of men, women, and ohildroa loat the
Urea.

The system of administration in the thn
provinces traversed is oniform with that in fim
throughout the rest of China, and ia too wc
known to need description. It may, howeive
be of interest to state thati wherever and iHmi
i ever we visited, or were visited by, the vanoi

i magislarates of towns passed through, we fotn

them, with few exceptions, capaUe, enligfatene
up-to-date men.

In such out-of-the-way portions of the em|w
armed forces are not required. Between lAn-idic
and Tu-yuan'-fu, police woi^ would be tiie M
reason for quartering soldiers, even in the eiviliBt
oouutty ; and in China the well-known otqiaittty i
the people to govwn themselves leaves no exeaa
. After leaving Lan-ohou our caravan oonmsti
only of pack transport, which in some ways mac
it easier for ourselves. After bidding good-bye i
our kind hosts of the mission, we had once znoi
to face the ferry crossing of the Yellow Kiver —
most tedious and dangerous task. In China tl
old law of every man for himself is strictly uphel<
As applied to this particular case it meant that tb
ferry-men ran the boat anywhere alongside th
huge frozen hummocks of ice which still adhere
to the right bank, and left it to us to get on boar
as best we could. Now to pass sixteen mtdes an
ponies, fully laden, into a ferry-boat without ganc
ways, is at best no easy task. When the shoi
is represented by enormous blocks of ice burle
toge^er at any and every angle, and as slipper

A DANGEBOU8 FERRY. 319

as glass, the ordinary European might hesitate
whether the task were possible at alL Not so a
Chinaman, to give him his due. According to his
lights, the mule or pony that cannot fend for itself
is of little use. Once unloaded, for he is pre-
eminently sensible in his methods, ice or no ice,
the animal is expected to jump into the boat,
and to their credit be it said they eventually
always did.

Twice again during the course of our journey
to Peking did we ferry over the Yellow River,
and all four times in the same primitive fashion,
without losing an animal.

From the time we had entered China proper
our nightly halting-places had consisted of inns
of various degrees of badness. From henceforth,
more oflen than not, the loess caves gave us shelter.
A feature of the country are these cave villages,
lending themselves most admirably to the nature
of the . land. But for their use it is difficult to
see how the inhabitants could house themselves.
Wood is almost as precious as a mineral in many
parts, and stone absolutely unknown. Of cave-
dwellings in use in East Kansu, the illustration
given elsewhere may be taken as a type, though
of a superior kind. Some nights found us and
the animals huddled together in a mere dug-out,
this in parts where dwellings and human habit-
ations of any kind were very scarca

One of the difficulties met with in crossing
Eastern Kansu and parts of Shensi was that of
obtaining sufficient supplies for both animals,
muleteers, and our men. The tracks we habitu-

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MAECO POLO.

ally made use of were mere traila leading frc
village to village where, throughout many da^
march, uot a single traveller would be mt
Though few, our wants taxed the slender resourc
of the various tiny cave hamlets, and it was ofti
necessary to push on an extra stage to reach
resting-place where we could obtain sufficient grai
water, and fodder.

Throughout the whole nine months of t
journey we owed our subsistence chiefly to o
rifles and guns. In Tibet and Chinese Turkest
bird life was conspicuous by its absence, but duri
the latter portion of the time in China we h
excellent sport in providing the daily meat rati*
If sport is measured by the number of cartridj
loosed off, I am afraid our daily efforts can 1
but feeble claim to the name. Fortunately i.
is not the universally accepted test. By the til
we had passed Lan-chou our supply of gun c
tridges had fallen very low. It was only possil
to allow ourselves six a-day ; and as the chief a
most sporting quarry were wild blue-rock pige<
which haunted the deep ravines and guUies
scores, it may be imagined that the loosing off
these six cartridges was no light affair.

Eventually the day arrived, and that long befi
we were within reach of butchers' shops, when <
twelve-bore cartridges were altogether exhaust
It was then the turn for the sporting . 303 agai
and not a few fat pheasants and some hill partridi
met their fate at the muzzle of this handy lit
weapon. To have shot a Tibetan anteloi>e a1
height of 17,000 feet and a gaudy Chinese pheasf

^1 i

▲ UNIQUB SPORTING BXPERDENCE. 321

at a distance of 40 yards with the same weapon,
is a sufficiently unique experience in the reahns of
sport to be perhaps worth relating.

Though the shooting we enjoyed, was confined to
small winged game, the country traversed supplies
other hunting of a more exciting kind.

On the border-line of Kansu and Shensi provinces
a tiny Catholic mission lies buried firom the world
not far firom the ancient town of Ching-yang-fii.
Here, as already related, firom the two brothers in
charge we heard stories of boar, deer, panther, and
smaller game of all kinds to be found during the
winter on the neighbouring wooded hills. The
existence of this mission is probably only known
to those immediately responsible for its foundation,
and was quite a surprise to us. It was, indeed,
only by accident that we did not pass without
seeing it.

Riding one day ahead of the caravan through
the ruins of what once had been a picturesque
village, Ma-lin by name, I had paused to adnure
one of the exquisite stone memorial arches so
common in China. In addition to a beautifiilly
carved low balustrade guarding the arches, the
firont of the pillars of which they were composed
was faced with polished black stone, upon which
were graven deep Chinese characters. The whole
fabric combined, as such arches invariably do, a
wonderfiil impression of solid strength with gracefiil
lightness, — an impression heightened by the row
of small bronze bells which hung firom the top of
the grey firetted stonework, and which the gentlest
breeze sufficed to set tinkling. Previous to enter-

82S

nr THE FOOTSTEPS OF UABCO POLO.

ing the village we had passed the remains «
piotnresqne old temple, and no doubt the latt«i
well as the archway, were both part of the a
Btoiy, oonld we have learnt it. Inquiry, unforl
atelj, and aa is usually the f^ase, proved froitl
In Chma those able to do so are seldom auxi
to tell the Btory.

Ab I was about to move on, my eye caught si
of a Cbineae farm-hand, and on looking at him a^
I was astonished to see in his mouth a distini
European pipe. At the same moment I noti
over Uie doorway of one of the courtyards a sr
orosB. The mystery of the pipe was soon explair
In answer to my question the owner of it led
way into a yard, on the other side of which stoo
tiny ohapel, from whence, as we entered, one of
two brothers in charge was just emerging. Mul
introditotion followed, and we were soon enjoy
the limited but unstinted hospitality the li
mission aflforded. Buried in the wilds of Kat
this has been established for fifteen years. So
as the two brothers were aware, it had only tv
before been visited by strangers. In one case
traveller was the well-known mission leader,
Martin ; in the other it was the Bossian explc
Obrutchev.

Thanks to the artistic powers of a former brotl
the mission possesses a perfect gem in its mimat
ohapel. Inside, the latter is profuady omamen
with scroll paintings of no mean merit, and th<
with the carved woodwork in which Chiu
carpenters excel, and some imported lantei
g^ve to its interior an aspect of tender care wh<

L 1

CAVE TOMBS. 323

in keeping with the character of the devoted men
who are content to spend their lives so entirely
cut off from civilisation.

After bidding farewell to our hosts we crossed
into Shensi province, and made our way over one
watershed after another by hill tracks until we
struck the vaUey of the Lo-ho at Fu-chou. Up
this we turned to Yen-an-fu. A curious feature
of this district is the cave tombs to be seen here
and there cut in the solid rock. That they are or
were temples I believe to be the case, though I am
aware that during the terrible days of the great
Mohammedan rebellion many caves were used as
hiding-places by the wretched inhabitant&

From the solidity of the work, and in one case
from a curious kind of sarcophagus seen in a temple,
it is to be presumed that they are Buddhist remains.
That Buddhism still flourishes is shown by the
temples in daily use. Most picturesque some of
these are, and I was fortunate enough to be the
witness of a quaint scene at one of these lonely
spota A little temple stood perched on a rocky
bluff some forty feet above a small stream, having
at its back a steep thickly-wooded hillside. As I
rode past on the narrow winding track, a respect-
ably-dressed farmer had just arrived, either to
return thanks for some &vour or to ask a boon
from the little gilt figure of Buddha which sat
enshrined in the usual attitude. Having dis-
mounted, the farmer produced from his saddle-
bags six large dough -cakes, an offering which
visibly caused the mouth of the ancient priest to
water; and as the latter, an old, old man, kept

324 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POLO.

solemii time, beating a small brass incense-pot
a tiny mallet, the farmer made his prayers sm
adoration on his knee& Holding in one hand a lig
fire-stick, he lit two small pieces of ti88ue-p
which lay in his right palm, then gently allowed
burnt ashes to float away. Rising from his ki
he turned to me as I sat outside on my mulet
politely asked if the noise of crackers would fr^
the animal, at the same time holding up a pa
which he took from a table by the door. As
mule was standing on the very edge of the 1
above the stream, I replied that probably it wc
so he quietly bade me depart, and I went.
the rest of the day I could not shake from
mind the idea that in the simple ceremony
witnessed perhaps the key was to be found for
regeneration of this vast empire, for, before ev
thing, what China requires is a firm and ho
belief in some moral faith.

One of the most tantalising features of tr
in China, far from the beaten track, is the
possibility of learning anything but the me
outline of the past history of its towns and
country traversed.

To the European for whom guide-books are i
prepared, many of which are themselves valu^
historical and archaeological works, this may s
a blessing in disguise ; and no doubt to many
mere fact of being told exactly what viewe
admire and which ruins to venerate, does to s
extent spoil a personal pleasure : at the same ti
the reverse side of the question has undoul
drawbacks.

AN ANCIENT 8TR0NGH0LD. 325

Pleaaant as it is to stand on the ramparts of
some city centuries old, hidden away where the
foot of a European has hardly ever trod, and there,
upon the slender foundation of such scraps of its
past as the stranger has been able to unearth
from translations of Chinese histories, to build
his own airy castles, yet one longs at times for
some more definite knowledge of how its inhabit-
ants lived, loved, and died in the years long
gone by.

Of such ancient towns, by fieur the most interest-
ing, both firom its position and the undoubted
traces it still bears of a venerable past, is Ching-
yang-fu, on the Eastern Kansu border.

As a natural defensible site, that of Ching-
yang-fu bears comparison with many an old castle
still to be seen in various parts of Europe.

Perched upon an almost sheer eminence, three
sides of the town are washed by the waters of
two small rivers. These, after running past the
base of the cli£b which slope from the ramparts,
unite at the southern end of the eminence to form
one stream, which cuts its way on through a
series of wild valleya On the north side we had
approached Ching-yang-fu down a mase of narrow
gorges and minor ravines, the track eventually
climbing on to a small grave-strewn plateau oppo-
site the outer city walla Across the plateau it
runs for some three hundred yards down a narrow
sunken cutting, directly at right angles to the
walls, and commanded by them. To reach the
latter, a ravine a hundred and fifty yards wide
has to be crossed on an artificial causeway fifteen

326 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

feet wide and some thirty feet above the bottc
of the ravine. The first walls are only the out
enceinte of the city, though forty feet high, ai
so solid that no artillery which even in the
modern days could be taken to the spot wou
harm them. East and west the city walls a
scarped from the loess cliffs, which drop almo
sheer on both sides two hundred to two hundn
and fifty feet to the streams already mention©
Along the top of the rampart thus formed
crenellated parapet six feet high has been buil
which gives a picturesque effect to the massi'
eminence forming the city. The outer portion c
the north side is now either ruins or und<
cultivation, and across this depressing scene >
desolation a winding track follows what was oni
the main street for nearly three-quarters of
mile. It then confronts the inner enceinte ft
the last hundred and fifty yards, running straigl
at the walls as before, but only to find itse
upon the wrong side of another wide ravin
crossed again, as in the case of the first, by
solid stone causeway with handsome balustrade
a hundred yards long and thirty feet fiom th
ravine bottom.

Having crossed the causeway, the track entei
the inner walls through gates a shade less massi'v
than those in the outer enceinte, but of the sam
magnificent conception so often seen in larg
Chinese cities.

Both in the advantage of its position as we
as in its natural surroundings, Ching - yang - i
suggests Edinburgh Castle, though the eminem

A RUINED CITADEL. 327

upon which the former stands would easily con-
tain the latter. The city stands at an elevation
of nearly 4000 feet above sea-level, and is sur-
rounded on the north, east, and west by high
hills which over-top the ramparts by seven or
eight hundred feet. These hills are at such a
distance as made no matter in the days when
bows and arrows took the place of artillery.

Within the inner walls of Ching-yang-fii the
occupied area is greater than in the outer city,
but that is about all that can be said. Ruin and
decay are everywhere stamped on the face of it.
A once extensive and handsome yamen^ the one
spot in a Chinese town where an effort is usually
made to keep up appearances, is here the ghost
of its former self. From the outer gate to the
entrance of the reception-room is nearly a him-
dred yards, but the formerly picturesque archways
and intermediate doors are all in ruina The paved
way up which the awed stranger is supposed to
approach now merely represents a succession of
traps for the unwary pedestrian or equestrian who
wishes to conform to Chinese etiquette and to
enter under the direct archways.

A mere handful of poorly-clad runners do duty
where scores must once have eaten the bread of
idleness, and instead of some thousands of stalwart
bowmen and swordsmen who would in years gone
by have been necessary to guard nearly 5000
yards of rampart, not half a score of withered
old men remain.

In addition to the main northern entrance there
are various minor adits; but the architectural

328 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ICABCX) POIX).

gem of the city, if it can be so described, is
be found in a very curious tunnel running fr
inside the inner walls down to the water^s ec
on the east cliff-face.

The tunnel commences half a mile finom ihe non
east corner of the inner walls, and is burrow
under them to a small open space lower than i
city level, but enclosed by separate walla equa
high and with a parapet such as surmounts t
others. On this space has been laid out wl
once was a beautiful little garden which surroui
a few exquisite temples, the whole hangings li
some swallow's nest half-way between the iqq
ramparts and the river below.

From the garden the tunnel is continued thxoa
the outer walls and hillside, descending to e
abruptly at the water's edge, the stream actus
washing the bottom of the stone steps with whi
the tunnel is provided.

No mere burrow is this hidden entrance, I
a piece of engineering which stamps its desigi
and those who laboured at it as constructors
no mean calibre.

Lined throughout its length with stone, a
having steps of the same material eight feet wic
the actual tunnel is some ten feet high. Twi
between the inner walls and where the turn
debouches on to the flowing water is it block
with iron postern doors, and these, together wi
the steepness of the floor gradient, 1 in 4 to 1 in
make its hundred yards of length a somewb
steep climb.

Sitting to ponder over the discovery beside t

A QUAINT PBOClESfilON. S29

swirling water at the lower end of the tunnel,
thoughts of the stories these worn stones might
tell could they but speak crowded through one's
mind.

It was easy to imagine this or that last sortie
by some garrison driven to despair after months
of starvation ; or to picture the stealthy advance
up the weird entrance of a band of desperate
warriors, admitted by trecu^hery, and ready to sell
their souls, let alone their bodies, to obtain a
footing within these forbidding walls.

How many a dynasty had staked its very
existence upon the continued occupation of this
grim old city ! How many a scene had these
war-worn gateways witnessed of gallant bands
issuing forth, bent on beating up a distant neigh-
hour in some bloody fray ; returning, perhaps, a
dribbling remnant of maimed and defeated fugi-
tives, anxious only for the security of these
impregnable walls I

Here, indeed, was the scene of many a romance
could the wand of some magician repeople these
empty ruins ; but what have romance and the
British officer to do with one another ? Theirs
but to reach Peking, not to idle and dream on
the walls of such old-world cities. Yet must one
other memory of Ching-yang-fu be recorded.

Standing at sunset on the old rampart above
the main city gate, I was witness to a quaint
scene which vividly recalled the days of Ivanhoe
and the castle of Torquilstone.

Approaching the walls came a quaint procession
about to cross the stone causeway. Most pictur-

330 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POIX>.

esque It seemed at that distance, and it was easy
to imagine oneself looking down from the battle-
ments of some feudal castle in the fourteenth
century upon the entrance of one of the knig'bts
of the period, with esquires, pages, men-at-arms,
and banners. First came two ancient trumpeters,
cracking their cheeks over long brass instninients;
then twelve standard-bearers, with pennons flutter-
ing from what might well have been lances.
Following the standard-bearers came half a score
brightly-dressed youths with brass gongs, drums,
and more flags, who represented the heralds of
old. Then came the inevitable red umbrella and
a somewhat sumptuous sedan - chair with eight
bearers and running knaves, — in our day-dream
the litter of some well-known queen of beauty for
whom many a lance had been broken. Around the
litter were another score of retainers armed with
small pennons ; and bringing up the rear came
more youths brightly dressed in scarlet, a number
of whom carried large wooden swords and ancient
halberts, then two mounted officials. Slowly the
long and gaudy procession wound across the grey
stone causeway approaching the massive gate. As
the last of the retainers disappeared within its
crumbling shadow the sun sank behind the bare
yellow hiUs, and, like a dream, Ivanhoe and his
retainers vanished into the air.

331

CHAPTER XV.

PITROLIUM AVD GOAL — CAT! - DWILLDlOa — ▲ TOVt TO ▲ Mm —
TAI-TUAV-FD— nn UKimtSITT OF 8HAH8I— ▲ HATITB HKWSPAPBR
^THB KU-KUAV PAB8— ▲ ORBAT GOAL AVD IBOH VISLD— ▲ RAILWAY
AT LABT^UOHOR PBIUFRTl'l HOTRIr-<3HniA'8 HABTB TO BIOOICB
WR8TRRN.

Thb country through which our route led ub after
quitting Ching-yang-fii has ahready been described
in the last chapter. Nor is there any need to weary
the reader with a more detailed account.

That portion of the province of Shenai through
which we passed resembles its western neighbour in
general characteristics, being as wild and sparsely
settled as is Eastern Kansu. Not until the Yellow
River is approached are there any signs of the pres-
ence of the wonderful coal-basin for which Shansi
province is so famous. Between the town of Tenan-
fu and the river, both petroleum and coal-fields
exist ; and though as yet these are probably only
known to enterprising Japanese, some of whom, we
were informed, had not long ago visited Ten-chang,
at some future time these valuable deposits may be
worth consideration.

A feature of Shensi province is the stone-fix>nted
cave -dwellings. Though at times the houses are
not regular caves, they are almost invariably built

332 IN THE FOOT8TEPS OF MARCO POLa

with their backs to a steep hillside, of^n in tetraoeS
two or three storeys high.

In the case of the latter dwellings, the roof is Sat
and has a small stoDe-coping neatly Burroundioff
three sides. The front is supported on three or
four, sometimes even five or six, semicircular Btone
archways, resembling almost exactly in appearance
the entrances seen in Kngland to many railway
tunnels. These arches carry the weight of the roof,
and tend to support the hillside. They are of very
solid construction, and have the front of the arch
filled in with dried mud or clay, into which is
inserted the doorway and lattice - work windows,
covered with the usual Chinese paper. The village*
thus built have a solid appearance. Cven the
numerous small temples are frequently placed on an
arched platform of the same type. Moat of the
houses have also a. flagged courtyard, surrounded
by a wall. The insides of the houses are airy and
comfortable, features not common to most ChineBD
domiciles of the lower order. The walls are plastered
smooth, as is the roof, and I have known tfa«n
omameoted with a narrow dado, also with rude
paintings.

Three days west of Fen-chou, a well-to-do Fn
(prefectorial) town situated in the rich valley of tbe
Fen-ho, we entered the real coal districta Although
tbe route followed was still a mere hill-track, streams
of mules and donkeys were passed, laden with oosl
for Fen-chou.

Halted for the night at a well-to-do village, we
learnt from our host of the inn of the existenoe of
a small mine only a few li off the track. To oar

DOWN A KINB. 888

surprise he readily agreed to our visitiog it the next
morning, guided by his son. Sending on the caravan,
Layard and I followed the youth over a very bad
hill -path, not always safe for riding, to the little
valley in which the shafts were situated.

Only one was in use at the time of our visit,
and, as usual, the methods employed were most
primitive.

The shaft had been driven straight into the hill-
side for a few yards, and was 4 feet 6 inches high
by 2 feet 6 inches wide.

Soon aft;er penetrating the hill it began to de-
scend at a slope of 1 in 9 for some three hundred
feet. The inner end is about fifty feet below the
mouth. Throughout its length the shaft is never
sufficiently high to allow one to stand up. For
most of the distance it was necessary to move either
on hands and knees, or crouched up in a most un-
comfortable stooping position. At its lower end the
shaft widens to ten or twelve feet. In it there is a
certain amount of water which is baled into small
wooden tubs, and these, like the coal, are hauled up
the incline on tiny wooden trolleys with four wheels,
each eight inches high. The trolleys have a short
length of rope attached, and this the men hook
on to another piece tied round their shoulders, so
dragging the trolleys out, bending and crawling in
what appears a most tiring manner. Each man
carries a small oil -lamp unprotected in his greasy
cap. The shaft throughout its length is only strutted
in one place by rough beams, the coal-seam appar-
ently requiring no artificial support.

At the mouth of the shaft the coal sells at about

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABjOO POLO.

Id. a basket, — the latter two feet six inches in
diameter and two feet deep. The coal is biitUe,
and easily breaks into dust. It is not nearly of such
good quality as that obtained round Liang-cfaou.

At the end of an hour's crawling we emerged like
blacks ; but thanks to a friendly old villager, vbo
invited us to his cottage for tea and a wash. «a
were soon able to get rid of the worst efiecte.

Our arrival in the little village was the signal for
a general rush to our host's courtyard. No one
there had ever seen a European before, and even the
women-folk pressed round in open and undi^uised
astonishment.

Upon reaching Fen-chou we were hospitably enter
tained by Dr and Mrs Atwood of the Americu
Medical Mission, and felt ourselves at last within
touch of civilisation, while eagerly devouring the
latest English paper.

The mission suffered severely in 1900, all thoiF
at that time in Fen-chou being barbarously mur-
dered. The chief instigator of the atrocities was
a man who had received medical treatment from
Dr Atwood in the mission hospital : so much for
gratitude !

Once having retasted the delights of civilisation,
however much the traveller may be wedded to a
wandering life, he is usually anxious to reach the
end of that particular journey, and this was now
our own case.

Nor was there any particular reason for delav.
Shansi is, comparatively speaking, more or leee
known to Europeans, and we had struck the main
road from Peking to Si-an-fu, where both inns and

)

A SUBOPSAN UNIVERSITY. 885

supplies were constant and good. Following the
valley of the Fen-ho, we reached Tai-yuan-fu, the
capital of Shansi, in three days.

Tai-jruan-fii is chiefly known to Europeans in
China as having been the scene of the most brutal
murders of missionaries during the Boxer rising of
1900.

Reference has been made in a previous chapter to
the death of the man chiefly responsible for these
atrocities. It may only be a coincidence, but it is
perhaps worth recording that nowhere during the
course of our travels through China did we meet
with less civility than in Tai-yuan-fu. The people
appeared to be of an inferior class, and could not be
compared with the polite and bustling population of
Lan-chou. If looks can be said to be any criterion
of civilisation, then do the inhabitants of Tai-yuan-
fu not shine, for opium -sodden fisices are the rule,
not the exception, and the conduct of the people in
the streets struck us unfavourably.

Though exceeding Lan-chou, the capital of
Kansu, in actual area, Tai-yuan-fu is not by any
means as fine a town in natural situation. It
boasts a European university where English pro-
fessors are canying on an excellent work among
Chinese students. But the presence of the univer-
sity is due to the energy and forethought of Dr
Timothy Richard, a man whose name is a house-
hold word in missionary circles in China, not to
any particular wish on the part of the local Chinese
for Western enlightenment

The origin and aim of the Imperial University
of Shansi is described in their own Calendar as

836

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MABCO POLO.

follows, and might w^ serve as the model
scores of such iDBtitutionB were the Chid
Government really in earnest in the adoptioa
Western culture : —

" Historical Summary : Origin and Adl

"After the Boxer atrocities of 1900 it wag agreed
tween the plenipotentiaries Ll Hukg-Chang, Pbixcb Ctfi
and Dr Timothy Richard, that instead of an indemnity
the lives of ProteBtante maasacred in Shansi, an ana
Bum of 50,000 taels be levied upon the province to
period of ten years, and the proceeds be used in establi
iug a thoroughly efficient modern Educational Institub
At the same time edicts were issued commanding the eet
lishment of a university in each provincial capital throu:
out the Empire, and the provincial government in Sh«
was taking energetic measures to establish one in Sha
To secure higher efficiency, in the new circumstances,
Richard signed a contract in 1902 for the amalgamat
of the Western College, he was pledged to commence, «
the Government College about to be opened. That do
ment was sent to Peking and ratitied by the Imperial &
The 23 Articles of that instrument constitute the Chai
and created an Imperial University with two dep*
menbs : —

"(1) A Chinese Depahtment in which all the atude
of the University reside, — their dormitory arrangomei
board and residence, being under the control of the Chin
themflelves : 200 of the students attend, and are whe
taught by officers appointed by the Provincial Govemmei

"(2) A Western Department in which the curricuh
teaching, and educational control are in the hands of
ElCHAliD and a foreign staff in consultation with ita Chin
members: 240 students of the University give their
divided attention to purely Western subjects. The i

A NATIVE NEWSPAPER. 887

of this department is to oommenoe with students who
already possess Government degrees, trained minds, and
tested ability. They are selected from the 10,000 pro-
vincial graduates of the first or second degree, and trained
for the service of the State through the medium of the
Chinese Language. An opportunity is thus open to
those who have a certificated Chinese education to pass
the preparatory course, and enter on some higher branch
of study without waiting till they become the masters of
a modem language. All take language as a subject, but
all other subjects are taught in Chinese so as to secure a
maximum of efficiency in a minimum tima"

It would be difficult to define in clearer language
or more pointedly in so few words the object at
which institutions of such a kind should aim.

To help the Chinese to help themselves along the
upward path towards modem civilisation should
be the attitude of all who wish them well Few
Europeans are more capable of acting the part
of guide» philosopher, and friend, than Dr Timothy
Richard.

In addition to the University, the China Inland
Mission possesses a station at Tai-yuan-fu, which is
under the charge of Mr Morgan, a mission pioneer
well known in Northern China. The city also
boasts an Agricultural College in Chinese hands,
where it is said considerable sun:is are wasted, and
a Police College, worked jointly by Chinese and
Japanese, where, I was informed, friction is not
unknown over the question of the salaries con-
sidered to be their due by the latter.

There is also a native newspaper, the editor
of which is an enlightened man who speaks out

i 338 IN THB F00T8TEPS OF ICABCO POLO.

*
I

fearlessly both against the official classes a
where he considers it necessary, the Europ
residents. The paper circulates largely throi
Shansi, as each Hsien town receives so many cop
as do many of the officials. For those not pu
tual in the settlement of their newspaper accoui
; rumour has it that the editor keeps and occasi

ally publishes a black list, — a delightfully sim

method of obtaining prompt payment which wo

no doubt help to raise the circulation of some of <

I own great dailies. After two days' halt at 1

4 yuan-fu we once more took the road. There n

remained between ourselves and the town of Chei
{ ting-fu, on the Lu-han railway, a distance oj

) little over one hundred miles as the crow flies, fa

although the route about to be followed represa
I one of the main ancient highways of China, wo

altogether fail to express the vileness of the tra
— that is, fipom a European point of view.

Known to the Chinese from time immemorial
the Ku-kuan pass, the track we now followed
a standing example of what a main route shoi
not be. During the 120 miles which constitute
length this highway crosses four main ranges,
each of which the road is barred, according
Chinese custom, by a picturesque gateway. ]
tween the ranges the track follows the beds
sides of torrents which are rocky to an alm<
inconceivable extent, and down which it win
continually rising and falling at steep gradiei
every mile or less. Anything more maddeni
to the European mind can hardly be conceive
Were the route in question met with in the wi

A GOAL AND IBON FIELD. 889

of Tibet or Central Asia, no traveller would have
any right to complain, but forming as it has for
hundreds of years one of the main connecting links
between Peking and the interior, its utter n^lect
is unaccountable — that is, until the weary traveller
recalls the fact that he is in China. Throughout
its entire length the Ku-kuan teems with traffic,
— a constant stream of mules and donkeys was
passed who carry merchandise of all kinds for
disposal in the interior, as well as vast quantities
of coaL As is well known, this part of Shansi
is one huge coal and iron field. It was described
by Baron Richthofen many years ago as one of
the most remarkable in the world. ''On the
other hand," he says, "the whole of this great
coal and iron region labours under two great
disadvantages. Firstly, it is situated a distance
away from the coast, and fix>m rivers that are
fit for other navigation than by small Chinese
boats; and secondly, the whole of the coal for-
mation rests, as it were, on a platform raised a
few thousand feet above the adjoining plain. Its
steep descent to the latter will not form an
obstacle, but at least offers great difficulties to
the construction of a railroad which will be the
only means of ever bringing to account the mineral
wealth of ShansL''

That the prediction given above was no mere
guess we had actual proof, but that it should
have taken thirty years before the hateful con-
servatism of the authorities was sufficiently broken
down to allow of a railway being commenced, would
probably have astonished even the author of it

340 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HAKOO POLO.

Rather more than half-way between Tai-yuan-fa
and Cheng-ting-fu stands the old town of Ching-
hsing. Close to it is the boundary between the
provinces of Sbansi and Chili.

At the time of our viait the town also marked
the rail-head of a small branch line destined to
connect the capital of Sbansi with the Lu-han line,
and eventually with Peking,

Although the construction of this branch is in
the hands of foreign engineers, no Englisbtnen are
employed. When it is remembered that the first
and most successfiil of the lines now open in China,
that which runs from Tientsin, was built almost
entirely by the energy and skill of an Englishman,
Mr Kinder, the fact gives cause to think why we
ae railway pioneers in China should have lost the
position we had once won.

Another of the remarkable transformations, no-
where perhaps met with ao abmptlj as in Ohiiut,
happened the day we reached the rail-head.

For nine months our party had been tsTamping
slowly across Asia, and during the last five days
the route had led through country almost as wild,
and certainly as inconvenient to get over, as was
the greater part of the way. Curious as it may
sound, even at Tai-yuan-fo very little informatioii
could be obtamed about what point or village the
branch line had reached, — the Chinese, habitually
inaccurate, not caring, and the &w EuropeaoB
unable to gather any detailed informatioo. The
consequence of this, was that upon the morning
in question our caravan entered the little village
of Nai-kuai &om the northern end without the

A RAILWAY IN CATHAT. 341

slightest warning of what was before us. Emerg-
ing through the usual narrow single street of the
village, which might itself have dated firom the
days of Ham, as might the village surroundings,
we were fairly amazed to see right across the
southern end a high modem railway embankment,
under which the ancient highway meandered by
means of the latest thing in archways.

Dumbfounded as we were, the instincts of
civilisation apparently lie very near the surfieu^e,
for the second thought which entered my mind
was one of wonder how soon the next train ran
outwards for the main • line junction I No sooner
was the thought entertained than it was acted
upon. Riding up the line a few hundred yards,
we found the little terminus, and soon ascertained
that if we wished to take advantage of the iron
horse there was no time to waste. At ten o'clock
each day a train went to Cheng-ting-fu, and by it
we determined to travel, leaving the mules and
ponies, as trucks were not available, to do a forced
march the last forty miles. In less than two hours
we were flying down the little branch line of one
metre gauge at what appeared to us a terrific pace.
In reality the speed hardly reached ten miles an
hour, but after the nine months' daily tramp at
two and a half miles an hour, one's ideas of pace are
hardly to be trusted. Owing to the necessity for
following either the valley of the main stream or
numerous side ones, the line winds incessantly, and
it took us three and a half hours to cover the
thirty- two miles which separate Ching-hsing firom
Cheng-ting-fii.

S4S nr n

Axrinng at tiis 1
tiw day's notk wu dtnriiig to * doM^ *
aftonuMo qoiet aumed to va, kny moMamA to faarf
■oaewfaat iqiaettmg.

Hanng leaeiied oar vorn-lookhig ■aaWh tay ai
the iminacliata reqaintoi iriuob wo had Imqg
with u in the train, the nnA oljeot was to £
a KN^ to shelter our par^. Bemtc*iang among i
many CSuneae inns which have apnmg np warn
the nuhnty-staticm, we wen disa p pointosl to fli
Uttrn all eqnally crowded, owing to tito amawwl 4
day of a Chinese official with a eoasew l iat immw^
extennve retinae. Viool a Baaaan " » ^wttf, -wkt
we had met with <m the train* we had leamt of
Bnropean '* hotel*" and thither we SutOj faenft e
weary steps to heg £br a lugfat^s lodgia|^

The "hotel" oonsiited of a kai^ knr. iriol
washed building of mod, roofed witii tin; ai
though a somewhat amlntions name ftr tho liti
hostel over which Signor Phtlipetti still I ho
presides, it afforded ua a most oomfiMrtal
Banetuary.

Ooe-half of the building consists of the soUe-
manger, some fifty feet long. The rest sheltc
innumerable little Philipettia and the signtn: hii
self, and forms the cook-house and store-rooma

In spite of finding his lot cast so far firom I
native land, an Italian of the Italians is Sign
Philipetti; nor could anything have exceeded I
hospitality and his kindness to ua The on
available acconunodation he could offer consisb
of two tiny godowns. That these were only b(hi
10 feet by 8 square, windowless, and bare of ai

THE PHILIPETTI HOTEL. 848

furniture but packing-cases and a plank-bed, made
no differenca

Were we not quit at last of Chinese inns and
safely ensconced in a ''hotel"? Not even the
** Ritz " could have made us feel more shy than did
the unwonted luxury of the dining-room.

With Signer Philipetti we spent a most amusing
evening, taking our first meal in a civilised fashion
in the company of two other Italian gentlemen,
engineers, and a hopelessly drunken specimen of a
different nationality, which shall be nameless. The
latter traveller was attempting to dispose of the
last few hundreds firom a large consignment of
arms. It has been said in vino Veritas^ and if this
be true, fix>m the remarks let fieJl by the vendor
during occasional returns to semi-consciousness, he
seems to have met with no little success in Man-
churia with the earlier portion of his consignment.
While Layard and I enjoyed for the first time
for many months the refinements of table-linen,
European bread-and-butter, wine, and such trifles,
a large party, composed of the chief officials in the
train of the Chinese magistrate, were beginning
their Western education, though at a somewhat
advanced age, by being shown how to eat a
Western meal in foreign style under the super-
intendence of Signor Philipetti's Chinese inter-
preter and fiftctotum* Upon the whole, the first
meal may be said to have been a success. In
deference no doubt to national prejudice, the trial
was not made too severe. Although, for example,
the many and varied dishes of which the meal was
composed were handed round in the orthodox

344 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF UAJtOO POLO.

manner, yet once each guest had received ti
necessary instruction how to help himself in
manner considered by the master of the oer
monies comme il faut, then the dishes were \t
upon the table, and no fiirther check appean
to be laid upon hereditary traits. The only r
straining influence was the wish to be conaidere
thoroughly versed in foreign manners and custom
Now and again, however, inbred habita becan
too strong for foreign veneer, and some onusuaU
tempting morsel would be hastily snatched from tl
dish and transferred to the offender's plate wit
knife or fork, — sometimes even, be it wfaisperet
without either of these encumbrances.

To us, fresh from the wilds, and ourselves incline
to fret under conventional restraint, the iuclinatio
to follow suit was somewhat strong, but the present
of Signer Philipetti and his companions fumishe
the necessary coimterpoiae to any such relapsi
Amusing as it was to watch, like many sue
object-lessons, the dinner-party d^cribed abov
had its moral, and that a somewhat sad one.

Than what we saw that night nothing could b
more typical of the vast changes at present bein,
grafted into the life of the Chinese, and, too, c
the hasty scramble that is going on to acquire a
almost any cost some smattering of Western way
and manners. Unlike Japan, China has not coe
sidered it necessary to learn to walk before attempi
ing to run alone, but, imbued with that overpowei
ing measure of individual and national pride whic
may yet be her ruin, she presumes that she wi
be qualified to take her place in the world as a civi

A BOOK OF DBSTBUCnON. 345

ised nation in as many months as it has cost the
Japanese years.

Quern deus wit perdere prius demenkU has as
much truth as such sayings can usually lay claim
to, but, in the present case, let us earnestly hope
that the eyes of the merchant class and the respect-
able lower orders may be opened in time to discern
the rock upon which the official classes of China
seem fated to drive their unhappy country.

846

CHAPTER XVL

VHB GBOWTH OF ▲ MILI9ABT SPnun DT OBIHA— ai€Bn OV UTRBATAL

— vHBBi FoeamiiB oausk of THB BIIBCIBBAHBOIIB IfOYSm

VHB ■MFBBOB — THB DOWAOBB-BCFBIBB^THB SIVBOV OV
JAPANSn TIGT0BII8 — THS PAST HIBIOBY OF UMUJIJ— AM
KUBLAI shah's UNSUOGnSFUL ATTA0K8 OV JAPAV — MiHn«l FOK
DOUBXni0 THS BBHAflOBVGB OF A lOLIXABT SFOOI.

Thb morning of the day after our arriTal aft
Cheng-ting-fii saw our whole party rejoined and
en route to Peking by raiL So fiur as the final
stages are concerned, it is unnecessaij to do
more than mention that we reached the ca|»tal
on May 6, where we were soon among old friends
receiving a most hospitable welcome.

Before concluding the account of our journey,
however, it may perhaps be of interest to attempt
to answer, as briefly as possible, one question fre-
quently asked by friends at home, who, though they
may not have visited China, are yet interested in
the future of that land of anomalies.

Without necessarily having in mind any idea of
a Yellow peril, it is natural that Europeans should
feel some want of enlightenment as to the possi-
bility of the growth of a military spirit in China
In the concluding pages of this book an attempt is
made to weigh honestly both sides of this question.

THB TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH, U.&A. 847

Only by carefuUy following the teachings of history
can any useful lesson be obtained ; and if the reader
is enabled to formulate his own ideas upon the
subject with any greater clearness, after having
read the final chapter of this book, the writer
will be amply repaid.

When the history of the twentieth century
comes to be written, not the least striking inter-
national occurrence will be the story of the
Russo-Japanese war.

It is a mere truism to say that the history of
Asia began to change firom the time when the
treaty of peace was signed at Portsmouth, U.S.A« ;
but to what extent this change may affect Asiatics
in general is not the purpose of this work. So
far as it may be possible, the object in view is
to note the effect upon the Chinese, — though in
tracing the part which China is likely to play
in the reshaping of the East the influence of
surrounding nations cannot be ignored.

To any one interested in the present condition
of that unique people — whether politically, com-
mercially, socially, or firom the military point of
view, — it is a matter for much consideration what
form the regeneration of her vast millions is likely
to take. At the outset it may be asked. What
reason is there to suppose that any such move-
ment is in progress? And though Europe is apt
to accept as a fact that there is, the question is
no easy one to answer.

During the last five years few who have followed
events will wish to deny that there have been
signs of an upheaval in China; that here and

848 isr THB loonmops or icaboo foui.

there the old erast haa been brokmii and that
underneath, at the present time, consklerabie db*
turbanoe is going on. But this is not adfiiaent
for those who have any acquaintance with CSdnese
customs and habits of thought. To such the further
question at once presents itself, From what source
do these internal rumblings spring? Are ihej the
mere formless emotions of miserable and, for the
most part, hopeless millions, ground down by the
tyranny of a ruling class who should know better!
Are they, again, the first signs of action at the
hands of a beneficent and sympathetic ruler, eager
to let in light upon the evik' under whidi the
millions alluded to suffer ? Or do these^ mysteri-
ous workings represent an intention upcm the part
of a united and moderate middle -dass to attam
the standard of fireedom they are beginnuig to
obeerve in surroimding nations?

Such are some of the questions which must be
answered, and from some such hypotheses must
we endeavour to find a starting-point before a
true assumption of what is taking place can be
formulated.

Now, in dealing with problems connected with
China, it is customary for most writers to in-
dulge more or less in generalities — the reason
being that it is never safe to particularise upon
matters affecting the conduct of this inscrutable
race. While admitting the justice of this plea,
and while fully aware of the fiitility of attempt-
ing to lay down hard and fast lines of conduct,
it is useless to pretend to discuss the trend of
public spirit in any people — even in the Chinese

THB DAK0EB8 OF 0ENSRALI8ATI0N. 349

— if we may not assume a probable course of
actioiL It is only by thus postulating some such
course that we can place ourselves in a position
to judge of the chances of a new spirit arising
in China. It is my intention to assume the pos-
sibility of a wave of militarism, and to attempt
to lay before my readers reasons for and againist
such a change coming to pas& History has its
lessons which he who runs may read, and which
may not be neglected. It has, too, the some-
times awkward but always interesting way of
repeating itself

In suggesting three possible causes of the sub-
terraneous movement now going on in China,
the writer has endeavoured to indicate those
which, on the face of them, have a reasonable
chance of being true ones. Let us endeavour to
ascertain which of the three is likely to be the
most direct cause.

It is a not uncommon error among Europeans
to think of the masses in China as ground down
by their rulers, and as forced to pass their time
in a miserable struggle for existence. And such a
description bears just this stamp of truth — that if
we persist in regarding things Chinese from the
Western point of view, the over-taxation and op-
pression by the officials might be so described. So
also might the existence of people who, to the
extent of many millions, live daily on the verge
of starvation. But if the millions of whom we
thus think have never known anything better?
If for centuries custom has sanctioned the one
abuse and withdrawn all terrors from the other.

■■^i

i
I

\> I

860 m THB fOOniBPS of XASOO FOIXI.

are we justified in usiiig such laiigiMga — ervei
though to Western ideas it states what are &ets
From time immemorial offidal life ia the Ess
has been guided by certain assumed canofw. Tha
these unwritten laws are as well undetvtood Ir
those ruled as by the rulers is also a fiust. S
long as the latter are content to comply witi
acknowledged custom, all is welL Dl^gml oppm
sion, one-sided justice, the buying of cases, mt
the rule, not the exception — hence are aeeeptsi
If as necessities of esdstence in China. Bat Irt i

^ ruler, more voracious or less wise thm his feUowi

attempt to go one step farther than custom aDowi
and retribution swiftly follows. From the distrid
magistrate of a small Aaten, who raises a looa
riot in which he may lose his life, to the **8qi
of Heaven" who has to face a Tae-ping rabellkii
which may cost him a throne, no authority is ssi
u fix>m the people, and those wielding it are awan

j I of the fact. In the hands of the masses the remed}

\ \i lies, so they are content — up to a point.

\ l When we come to examine the second of the

P^^ suggested causes of the present unrest in China,

llj we are faced at once by a difficulty which could

\ j only exist in that country of anomalies. All the

f- ^ world is aware that Kuang-hsu is merely a puppel

in the hands of the dowager - empress. Whethei
the millions who gather on occasions to offer wor-
ship to his tablet in their temples are equally well
informed, cannot be so definitely stated. It if
sufficient for present purposes if we accept the
situation, and ask ourselves whether the feelingt
\ of that illustrious lady towards the emperor's sub

iiv

SOUBCBS OF UNREST. 361

jects indicate either sympathy or beneficence. I
think if there is one point upon which students
of latter-day afiairs in China agree, it would prob-
ably be in answer to this question. She has been
tried in the balance and found wanting.

There remains, then, the last of the suggested
causes, and though perhaps incorrect in form — as
any definite statement of cause in China is almost
bound to be, — it may be allowed to indicate with
sufficient accuracy the general trend of feeling
which at present stirs the masses of that country.
If it be thought that this latter statement contains
the germs of truth, we are then brought £Btce to
hce with the inquiry what form the aspirations
are likely to take. In themselves worthy of the
sjrmpathy of all who are happy in the possession
of an ideal, it is unfortunate that such aspirations
cannot be regarded solely from this high standard.
If straws serve to show the direction of the wind,
it is no less true that recent events in China point
in a direction from whence a storm may again arisa
With every wish to avoid the imputation of being
an alarmist, it is useless to ignore facts when, more-
over, as at the present time, these are most per-
tinent to the question under discussion. If there
is one feeling more than another which can be said
to permeate the responsible classes — that is, those
who lead and who are able to shape what answers
to public opinion in Europe, — it is that the
foreigner is responsible for the present unhappy
state of their country. It is not necessary to say
that this fidsehood, so widely disseminated, is be-
lieved by those who are responsible for it. It is

862 IN THE I001SIBF8 OT IfABOO FQLO.

also beside the question. That the mliag da
ean make use of saoh a statement wh«i neoesB
tibat it awakens at least some echo in the he
of many millions of ignorant people, is siiffic
f for their purpose. And the daiiger lies in

fitct that under mnister influence it may be m
use of to turn aside natural and commend
aspirations from a Intimate to an illegitin
end.

Let us suppose that the danger whicdi
attempt has here been made to foresee she
gather force. It may be asked, How will it si
the actions of the moderate party whose finrti
we are endeavouring to follow? It has 1:
remarked at the commencement of this cha]
that the history of Asia began to change <m
day when the Japanese granted peace to a defiM
white race. It is not to be expected, perhaps, t
the full significance of such a unique ocourre
should dwell over long in the thoughts
Europeans. To the West, which hardly all<
its children time to think, that historical mom
was merely an episode. But such was not
point of view of the East. To the slow-think
Oriental that episode was first a wonderful i
elation, only half credited, now the most cherisl
article of his ftiture belief. What efiect, then, ^
the digestion of such a belief be likely to hi
upon an intensely proud Asiatic race? Allow
that under evil direction the cry of "China
the Chinese " is not considered sufficiently stirri
but that it is thought necessary to couple witi
the insane '' Out with the foreigners/' has not

THE STATE OF THE CHINESE ABMT. 363

time arrived to leave generalities, and to discuss
actual possibilities?

If it be granted that there is ever so slight a
chance of the present unrest taking some such
form as is here indicated, the first steps towards
carrjring out such a policy must be the creation
of some armed force as a weapon to be used.

Since the dose of the Russo-Japanese war
various and conflicting reports have appeared in
Europe as to the striking advance made by the
Chinese in the reorganisation of their army upon
modem lines. Without wishing to reflect in any
way on the authors of these reports, it may be
said that they are not in every case in a position
to judge.

To attend mancBuvres, and to foUow for a few
days the fortunes of a large but picked body of
men, does not necessarily ftirnish even a military
critic with the data required, to pronounce an
opinion upon the condition of the armed forces
of a nation. When, moreover, the forces under
review are Chinese troops, and when the initial
incapacity of all Europeans to gauge the true
significance of what they merely see in China is
allowed for, it foUows that we must go very much
deeper than the results of a few annual mancBuvres
if we wish to ascertain the reality of a new military
spirit in that country. Let us begin by consulting
their own earliest and most treasured teachers, one
of them the man whose doctrines, above all others,
permeate Chinese thought.

A disciple of Confucius inquired on one occasion
what was essential in the government of a country.

II
it

864 IK THB FOOTSTEPS OF MABOO POX^.

Gonfuoius answered, ^^ There must be sufficient food
for the people, an efficient army, and confidence
of the people in their rulers.''

''But/' asked the disciple then, **if we were
compelled to dispense with one of those three
things, which one of them should go first ? "
Dispense with the army," replied Confucius.
But still," the disciple went on to ask, ''if
one were compelled to dispense with one of these
two things remaining, which one of them should
go first?"

"Dispense with the food," replied Confucius,
"for firom of old men have died; but without
the confidence of the people in their rulers there
can be no government."

The above opinion was given by this great sage
and teacher some five hundred years befcune l^e
commencement of our era, and may be considered
the guiding principle to the subsequent action of
the nation he taught throughout the centuries
that have passed away. Neither time nor space
is here available to discuss the ethics involved
in this pronouncement. It is enough to remind
ourselves that no other human being ever lived
whose words had such lasting influence in the
thoughts, if not on the conduct, of mankind.

Let us now turn to the early history of Chinese
military affairs, and, if we can, learn something
of the spirit of the past, warlike or otherwise.

Before the commencement of the Christian era,
Chinese power extended over what is now known
as Eastern Turkestan. That eminent Orientalist,
the late Sir Henry Yule, has also summed up the

A PROPENSITY FOR PARADOX. 356

general acquaintance of Roman historianB, such as
Pliny and Ptolemy, with the China of their know-
ledge in the foUowing words : " The region of the
Seres is a vast populous country, touching on the
east the ocean and the limits of the habitable
world, and extending west nearly to Imaus and
the confines of Bactria. The people are civilised
men of mild. just, and frugal temper. eBchewing
collision with their neighbours, and even shy of
close intercourse, but not averse to disposing of
their own products."

Though these words express the opinions of men
who wrote not far short of two thousand years ago,
it would be difficult to outline with greater nicety
the Chinese character to-day. Even at this early
staee in their history these people seemed to have
devlped tbat exf^rdinaryWority for p.n«lox
which ever since has marked them. To be known
as anxious to eschew collision with their neighbours,
yet to extend their military power over the larger
portion of what is now Asia, are two things which
seem hardly compatible. In the fifth century A.D.,
it is known that the Chinese imposed their power
upon the King of Ceylon. In the seventh, they
invaded India, and, afler harrying Behar, carried
away the king of that country a prisoner to China.
Not only Behar but other portions of India paid
tribute to the great Emperor Tai-tsung of the
Tang dynasty. The kings of what at that period
were known as the five Indies owed him fealty ;
while his dominions extended in one direction to
the Caspian, and in another his power was ac-
knowledged south of the Hindu Rush.

866 IN THB lOOraiXPS OV 1C4B0CI BOUK

In the dgfath oentuiy Ghineae fixoes aie bbSA
to have oocupied Ladak, thoc^^ abcmt the nine
period, it was only by a most fikvoanifafe leQeption
of Arab envoys that China in aU pKobafailifey saved
herself from a Mohammedan invasioii. Already
Bokhara, Samareand, and Eladigar had fiJlen be-
fore the fierce onslaught of these religion fiunatios;
and either the tBuoe of Nature, in the shape ci the
Gobi desert, or the reoepticm of the emksarieB above
alluded to, saved China from the fii^te of the rest
of Asia.

It was in the traith century that the name of
Eitai or Cathay, as it is now generally known,
came to the Climese through the conquest of their
country by the Ehitans, an alien people who
overran Northern China. As has subsequently
occurred to other and later conquerors, the TTKit^MMy
were eventually peac^ully assimilated by the
people they had defeated in war.

It would be unnecessary to mention the Mongol
conquest of China by Chingiz Khan, but for the
food for reflection afforded by the fact that it was
an emperor of China who pushed his conquest as
far west as Hungary. That emperor was Okkodai,
the son of Chingiz.

One century later, perhaps the greatest ruler
China ever had appeared in Eublai Khan. As a
land -empire, the territories which acknowledged
his sway will bear comparison even with that of
Rome. His immediate kingdom, we are told, em-
braced China, Korea, Mongolia, Manchuria, and
Tibet, with claims over Tong-king and Burmah.
His viceroys ruled in Chinese Turkestan, Trans-

THE FAILURE OF KUBLAI KHAN. 357

ozania, and Afghanistan. The empire of the
northern Tartars, covering a large part of Russia,
the country north of the Caucasus, and Siberia,
was held in fief from him. And, as if this were
not enough, the southern portion of his vast
dominions included Persia, which then embraced
Georgia, Armenia, and part of Asia Minor.

After the enumeration of such wide conquests it
may be of interest to make mention of at least one
failure met with by the arms of Kublai Khan. On
the eastern flank of his unwieldy land-empire lay
some small islands, and upon their conquest Eublai
set his heart. Zipangu or Jih-pdn-kuei, '' the home
of the rising sun," the modern Japan, was then, as
now, peopled by a race whose love of their island
home would brook no invasion. Interesting as a
detailed account would be, it must here suffice to
say that the first expedition sent by Eublai Khan
shared the fate of. that commanded by Admiral
Bojdestvenski, which latter, history as usual repeat-
ing itself, was destroyed almost on the same spot
as the former ; while the second, a larger and more
comprehensive undertaking, was in every respect
the precursor of our own Spanish Armada. Leaving
out the failure to invade Japan, it is indeed hard to
reconcile with such conquests the idea of a peace-
loving nation averse to arms. Yet writers in the
fifteenth century who knew the country, continue
to describe a high standard of civilisation and
politeness as the leading characteristics of the
Chinese.

Another and amusing tribute to the orderliness
and uprightness of the ancient administration is

368 IN THB FOOrerCBFS OF MABOO VOIjO.

given by Yule, who repeats a sayii^ of the Jesuit
historian Jarric Dilating on the subject, the latter
remarked, '^ That if Plato was to rise from Hades,
he would declare that his imaginary repufalie was
realised in China."

In 1405 the Cinghalese insulted a Chinese
mission, so the reigning Emperor Ching-tau de-
spatched a naval and military expedition through
what are known to-day as the '^ Straits," including
in their itinerary Siam. It is perhaps imneoessaiy
to describe further the military exploits of jne-
European daya

From the time when, early in the sixteenth
century, the Portuguese adventurers were tiie
first to land there, Chinese military organisation
must be viewed from a different standpoint
Hitherto it has been unnecessary to do more
than enumerate the varying fortunes which at*
tended the employment of their armies, as such
expeditions, however vast the scale may have
been, represent more the employment and success
of mere numbers than any attempt at organisation
or even cohesion. The first occasion upon which
Chinese troops were called upon to meet foreign
invaders was towards the middle of the seven-
teenth century. By that date Russian expan-
sion in Northern Asia had reached the Pacific.
And when at last Russian and Chinese troops
had come into conflict, a short but indecisive
series of fights ended in the treaty of Merchinsk.
Before the advance of Russia had reached the
Far East, Chinese arms had once again been van-
quished by an alien people. By the year 1644

CHINESE V. QH00RKHA8. 869

the Manchiis had established themselves, and the
first emperor of the Ta-tsing dynasty ruled at
Peking. Under Kien-lung, the third of the Ta-
tsing dynasty, who, it has been said, raised the
empire to its highest pitch of greatness, Chinese
arms were once more in the ascendant. Not only
was the emperor successful in Central Asia, where
a strong policy was somewhat mercilessly enforced,
but he also once again sent troops to invade a part
of India. Towards the end of the eighteenth cen-
tury the Ghoorkhas of Nepaul had overrun Southern
Tibet. Meeting with little resistance from a feeble
Chinese force sent to occupy the country, the
Ghoorkhas were at first successful. When, how-
ever, the Chinese authorities realised the serious-
ness of the situation, strong measures were at once
taken. Reinforcing the defeated troops, the Chinese
in their turn drove back the Ghoorkhas, upon whom
they inflicted more than one blow. When the
latter retired upon their own mountain border, not
content with their success the Chinese followed,
and the unique experience of an engagement fought
near the Ghoorkhan capital of Kbatmandu ended
in the defeat of its defenders.

It is such determined military efibrts as the one
described above which renders so difficult the task
of estimating the reality of the Chinese military
spirit. Though it is unnecessary to dwell upon
the value of such an expedition as a military
exploit, it may not be out of place to suggest in
praise of its very inception a glance at the map
of Asia.

To set against the successes obtained in Tibet,

860 nr tHM woomasn or mjlBoo k>i/>.

we mmb now turn to a nei^bouring ooontry
&rther soutbu Aboat the eame time as the
Ghoorkha conqueete, Ohineee armieB wece de-
spatched to Burmah. Thou^^ goc ooflDfu I in pene-
trating into the heart of that coantry, the CSuneae
troops were heavily defeated by the Bumese.
From the commencement of the nineteenth oentmy,
intercourse witii foreign nations began aeriovufy to
be felt. At the time when the century was half
gone the Tae-ping rebellion had shaken the foon-
dations of the mnpire. That it did not finally
effidct the fell of the Manchu dynasty is no honour
to the military spirit of the nee. That the
Ghinese furnish as fine material for sdldiera as
any Asiatic race is tiie opinion of most Eurc^eans
qualified to judge. From this opinion General
GordoUi who saved the Manchu dynasty, never
varied.

With the Tae-ping rebellion came the wars be-
tween England, France, and China; later on the
war with France alone in Tong-king. In Central
Asia Chinese military prestige flamed up tempor-
arily owing to the suppression of the Yakub Beg
rising, but received another shock owing to the
all but successful efibrts of Chinese Mohammedans
to release themselves from a suzerainty they de-
spised. In the present day we are able to follow
the fortunes of their arms from a personal point of
view.

The China -Japan war, with its overwhelming
disgrace to the former, taught her no military
lesson. The so-called rising in 1900 taught Euro-
pean diplomacy something, but China less. It is

THE CHINESE SOLDIER. 361

not our aim here to do more than indicate the
possible chance of the revival of a military spirit
in China. Whether I am justified in using the
word revival I will leave to my readers to deter-
mine. The conquests of the past point to some
such spirit having once been extant, but that it
remains, or can be reintroduced, is not the opinion
of the writer.

Before closing this review of the existence or
non-existence of any military spirit in the nation,
it may be of interest if some personal experience
is added. During the last eight years, in con-
junction with other British officers and non-com-
missioned officers, I have helped to create, and
for the last six years have commanded, the Chinese
regiment which has lately ceased to form part of
his Majesty's forces. Constant daily intercourse
with the class from which Chinese future armies
will be drawn, and hourly instruction of these men
in every possible form of the art of modern war,
may perhaps be allowed to count as sufficient
reason for venturing to offer an opinion upon the
point we are endeavouring to elucidate. Not only
is such opinion the result of observation drawn
firom training in time of peace, but it was strength-
ened by the actual experience of leading these men
in war during the rising of 1900.

The opinion formed by General Grordon of the
value of the Chinese troops he and other white
men led, was confirmed again and again during
our eight years' experience. Without analysing
the various accounts which General Gordon has
left on record, it may be taken for granted that

362 IN THB rOOmnXPB OF MABCO POLQW

the following is a true summary of his opimoiL
Led and trained by Europeans^ the Chinese would
be second to no native troops in the wodd,— per-
haps it may be added, in these more highly neryous
modem days, to no troops in the worid. But
trained and led sucoessfiilly by Chinese oflSoera
they will not be, at any rate within a perkid of
time which practical politics need take heed o£

To enumerate ihe good points of the material
which the nation could produce, it is merely neces-
sary to rditerate a list of military ^urtues required
to form an ideal soldier. Have we not the author-
ity of the greatest master of war the world has
ever known for the following description? —

'' The first quality of a soldier is fortitude in
enduring &tigues and hardships ; bravery but ihe
second. Poverty, hardship, and misery are ibid
school of the good soldier." Few Asiatics and
no Europeans more closely fulfil these require-
ments than do the Chinese.

And now for the reverse of the shield.

A late head of the General Staff in France has
thus described the part that the staff of an army
must play in the present day. Substituting China
for France, his words are given in extenso.

"Though the art of war may still hold in reserve for
some future Turenne, Cond^, or Napoleon, those sudden
inspirations of warlike genius — those lightning flashes
that suddenly light up the tangled hosts and strike the
foe at the very point needed to decide the fight — yet
there is in the case of actual warfare a task to be done
of a totally different kind. I am referring to the pre-
paration for war, the preparatory work of bringing into

THE ABSENCE OF A NATIONAL 8PIAIT. 363

the field those huge forces that a nation will one day
be called upon to set in motion. I am referring to that
patient, earnest, ceaseless work that devolves upon the
staff of an army. . . .

''Picture to yourselves, then, the stupendous armament
of a whole nation; the sudden suspension of all public
and private life, the transformation of ' China ' into one
great drill-ground ; the vast masses of men who must be
clothed, equipped, and armed in a few days, ay, in a few
hours. Picture them speeding along by every railway to
the confined spot where in one fearful encounter will be
decided the freedom, nay, the very existence of a country.

"All these human waves will appear to roll onward
pell-mell, but at the given place and exact minute all will
be found in order, each unit in its place, face to face with
the foe, and ready for the struggle. And what a struggle !

"You do not imagine that when once those immense
masses have been got together they can be moved, or
supplied, or fed, or that they can take the field unless all
the problems have been thought out and studied, and, so
to speak, solved beforehand."

In these words is most vividly depicted the
embodiment of a national military spirit, prepared
to sacrifice everything in defence of its country's
honour. That such a spirit at present exists or
can be called into being in China by Chinese, I
am unable to believe.

1 .

; f

APPENDIX.

EECORD OF TEMPERATURE AND WEATHER.
LEH TO POLU.

RiMEor Puo.

T«.r«.r«.

lUn.

^ ■!

rotcM or Wi»D two Wunu.

A1C.3B

tUmuBrtra

o»

■^■jy-

■Sr

1 8.W. 4 enmolo-itwtiu. aoady

mtIt. witbhot inn op to 2 r.K.,

n«i;i8.W..indUt«r. 10.7M ft.,

lae? pTM>.

1S.W. 6>iJinbiu. aood!»MtipW
1 P.M., Uier clooded erat u if for

•. ao

CnmiT . .

nin. Il,82fin., IS'Mpnu.

. 31

ZnoKUL . .

saw. S cim>.ciUDUlQ». Brfor«7
A-M. claw and Hoe. up to dooo
eloadr ud bright alUTUtalr.
IS, 233 ft., 1470 pnM.

■•pt. 1

TlDLTAK . .

28.W. 2 eirnM.ai.l«. a«r .U
daj. 16,400 ft.. 16-W prwi.

CloadlM* dl d>r 1 gnu chuig*

TAMtaM . . .

Id h»I or iiu. to^r. 12,700 (t,

lS-80 prau.

It a

...

CloadlMiL SW.

. t

«4

2 W. S oamolo-ttntni.

- «

Hvaus. . .

fi7

2W. 4 cirroHMimulafc 13.260/1.,
18-Ot pniL

- '

2W. 8 cuoalo-Mntu 18.8Mft..
U-eSpnu.

■ '

Soulbtld*

Gondy qdUI 3 F.tL csmvlu.

AfMmooD clear. 1 W. 10,417

ft., IS-MpraM.
Cloudy til day, Wot »d™ for • fa*

miDolM. 4 K.E. Bltlu *ind jp

to 1^30 p.*. utmiw.a.yf.

ll4M"tC«-!A

iSS'iid.

7 ttntn*. 16,800 R.. 16-70 pnM.

Pawul. . .

Pine e»rl», Ut« cloudy, (tarai oa
■11 tl.a high Hkki rangd ; nin ftt
6 P.M., lE* ftnt linea Aufut S.

Wind niiabUi, awlDly N. ; alUr.

. 10

Ktam . . .

doodW. 14.400 ft., 17-28 pnM.

Aftn ■llDlKht ralD cloudy tUfnoM,

litathalludntDitonn. 68.W.

15.818 ft., l«-«3 p™..

. 11

i4 4S

Ekriy floe, Ut«r eloady. haU a»d
niounalli. S8.W. Noobaor.

■tioni poaibla.

IN TBB FOOTBTBFS OF XABOO FOUX

T>»DU.TVBS.

Oma.

Foam or Vim asb Wuim.

;

^■U

_5_

1. 31

Bept-U

Kt« . . .

■a

■»

•S

■a-

■='£'•"=?:& Ki5°S

» U

»7

Snow on ground mt O^wm. Half
up to noon, later cUu. fcMMl^

rtrata.. 4W. lS,4S»lt..lMI

m U

ZuDira. . .

Sl^M mow At dawn. taaBT ■<
Blill up to 8.80 '-■^•*

■ IB

CantM-fo .

17,200 ft., 16-17 pnm

„ It

LrRDrao. 31
nulaaeut of

Eu-lr brigfat And nDiiT : dostOM

.11 day. 6W. ir,ai6n.,i4»

LUIAE-U

preM.

„ n

SBOii (nnltab)

CloDdl™ .U day. SW.inmoM.
17,416 ft., lS'40pras>.

H 18

BuKOaAiia

OOBdleM All day. 3 W. 17,11;

.. 10

(DuUld.]

n., 1S'G3 preM.
Cloudlem all day. 2 W.

.. SO

Thaksut

clouds. 17,080 n.,lB-eOpn».

Whim

n ai

Eakurb , .

4«

Slight saow la« night. ™ti»a-i
^lighlly np to noon. Eiil; w
wiud.Afl^mooiiSW. \6.iiih.
16'13preM.

« 22

Mako-Tebaka-

TH)

1«

EArlr Gdb, Blight snow^qoilii (na
N.E. li 1 P.M.. UMfrm W .
4 »iioWH:louda. 16,6«6 ft., li 71

,> 28

Chutzab , ,

...

3nnii J and still early. ee«Tiaio«
■qnalU 9,30 A.H. WlitJ ! N.K ■

.. St

...

Clear early, 5 W. lal*r. 6 cuniol^

,. 2G

<£

4«

p.ii. All day nearly mnileB,
moat uuuEoal. AfCenuwa 7 sim
bns or iiiiow«!loud«. 2 W.

.. 38

Taho.M».T«o

4fi

No wind early, 11.30 A.ii. on^irt-
BN.W., later W. 3 c irru-itnl'i'-

.. 27

KuroBi. , .

16,866 ft., 1576 prew.
Early 2 N.E., ahtaDOon 1 W.,
doudle«i aU day. 17.S00 d-,

I5'61 pKM.

.. 38

Cusp 10 . .

Cloody All day, thnAteaiog b".
3 W. 16,933 R., 156S pm*.

BBOOBD OF TBHPERATUBE AND WEATHER.

Runv Pun.

,„„„„».

■i

'""""" '"""""

—

ChnplI . .

»♦

Snow faU to 3 incbni. and Uj ermy.
whors for Snt time. Hmt;
■oow-clondi all dny •nd w^iull*,
aarraaDtllnc ruuita obacun'l.
E«lT3irfe.,UlMaW. !«,*«

n.,f8-oopTM..

Ouapl9 . .

Eulr 2 r.. Ular S W. till 10 r.u.
H«Ty «qoiUi with mow from N.
S drrni, UUr S dmu. 18,3SI>
(t, lO-OO pTMI.

, I

Snow fell t« 3 iochn daring ni^t
uid np to B.90 A.it., RmDf Utar.

Looiro-oov .

Euljr'l' N., l»n, Utcr S W. 9
rtf»tM. i7,lS8fL.16-6apn».

CBTCRDK . .

.,.

...

tMiXj dondltw, 3 E., Utcr 2 B.W.
7 cimu op to 8 P.M.. doodlaa
thrn till doik. 17,516 (L, Ifi-SO

Dira-'a Pijja

...

Ekri; numy ud wjodlena. cltn»
cnmiJu, Utar S B.W. wltb bitfng
Morm ftom th* mow-miga at 5

P.M. iDtoiMcold <m UMpUIn

■Tvngtiig 18-100 ft. J«,esa ft.

lE'TO pmi.

BuA Haiiv .

SsBtir .nd w»m urif, dondlaM,
1 H.W.. UtoT S tlm«nniiaM, 8

W. ib,»« ft., 16-40 pnM.

9»

Cloudlen >4rW. !l S.W., nuuiT uid
»um up t« 1 P.M., latn S itntuL

Stom all da; opoo Uia DotU-i
Earij 2 8.W., 2 clnui. aftmoot

6cnmulii..!8.W.

■X

Earljr S N.E. with «]iuU* of daat

EarlTj N.'L, S dm^ aftaniom 8
K.V., 6 comnliu. 8oow paiibx

n^lr Glondlw, nrj oold night,
foranoon 2 N.E. , 2 drnu.

(HH.

Eailr 1 dmu, 2 N.W. At 11 i.k.
it clodd*^ oter a* tor now with
•quill of doit liut«wl. Utor 7

AUD-U,

CloodUu aarlj, 1 8,W., antin*,
wuTO montDg anar nniuaallr

Somtliiiili

Doaa S 8.W., T^itratiu. 14,700

tt.K-tOpmm.

m THX looTBim^ or maboo fou>.

,^„P„..

TmriuiTiu.

Dah.

111

roaca OF Wctd .=• Weitmim-

Oct. 18

AKBU-U,

■«■-

aiicht snow during tlw nifia tim

E«-1t8 ciiTos, aaw bj 11 !,».,
2 S.W., 5 cnmnlBfc 18,3» It,
lG-95 pms. Colder Uib iid< J

Nor^iide

tba Cnrion range.

., 14

OooQoor-PiJm

KulT doudieu, I 8.W., bter J
8.W., 8 ciimalo.«tr««M. U,UO

ft., 16-37 p™».

Atobk-Kol .

ClonilleM e«lj, 1 W, Sou} *id
wuin u Diiul after aaniiw. Bl

Hmty (nomtorm in Kn<a La.
15,200 it,, 16-50 pieo.
Early clondlew, 1 S.W. UM. «
N. lide of KniD Lou raoji; b-

« IB

Boonoo-u

tenH cold with 2 n. of BW".

.. 17

Z009*OHIB. .

...

I5,S00 ft., 16-16 pn«.
Karlj clouieM. no wind, .(tanKW
3 N. 6 cumaliu. liW ft,
18-50 preu.

.1 IS

(Camp)

£9

...

8eirro-eannd<u,2N.W. ll,)00ft,
IS-SO prm.

.. 19

Kalcitou . .

10.400 ft., aO-00 pnw.

.. 30

£6

Polo . . .

^ day from wft gl^ \Mti{l\ of
lower moDDtaia BlopM, litsJlt.

8300 n., 2170 presa.

POLU TO CHIA YV KUAN.

Oat. 31
u 32

25
36

Bold ...

8«

39
33

47
£1

Temperature takau la the op*"
courtyard. Early clcotiloi. 3
N.E„diist-baie.jlday.

aoadI««, dnit-haie, 2 N.B.

M 34

2fi

Kdbup K,
(C«np)

36
89

Ciondlew early, 1 S.W., liter do*
hize, 3 N.E.

Cloudleu early. 1 S.E., liMr i^-
ba». thick, 4 N.W. StsU l-v
m,t, fi.46 P.M. dark. WOO ft,

later 8 N.W. 5700 'ft., 23*

1, 2S

BOOBAB
LlMOAR

"ft

» 26

EaOKKUB . ,

''fc"

4fi

...

Heavy dnat-haao obaenring nurim.
Clondleea, no wind, Utei 3 SX
4600 ft., i5^» pren.

RECORD OF TBUPERATDRE AND WBATHSR.

Hul or PLACi.

T«^«.T.«.

Otrm.

roKd or W|«I. .ID WutOK.

iM. 37

Emijl . . .

■a

[>«

Euljr 1 drnu, laUr cloudlcu, after-
noon 3 ciiTO-atrata*, he»»j dtul-
huc, no wind. 4(100 ft., 26-00

. 38

„

Early cloodlcu. no wind, haayy

8 Dtrobai

. »

Shjou. . .

Early no wind, riiiog towardi dMsrt
N.E,. rt 11.16 A.H. W.N.W.,
THfing to N., flnallr by 6 F.K,
to 3 E. Thii ii the avann pro-

cadora of rtnd. UnumaUy heaTj'

dnat-bau all day, limlU view to
Imile, 4600 ft.. 26-20 prwa.
TboDgh Digbt 1« clsuer iliaa day.

. M

Yu-YuLorv .

»B

the don-bue i. itill apparent.
CloDdlBa. bm for thij. Uora il

only an arc of aom. 90" of Uw d^

Dot allKtBl by the hau, and that

■re U It tiBiea partially affecud.

7 a.H. 2 S., lain- 2 W,. by 3 r.x.
veering to K., attar to E. ttOO

ft.-iS-OOprwB.

. n

Chikdvda a.
1B«1)

CloDdleai early, lau duat-haM, DO
wind. 0.30 a.iL 1 N.E. riling,
4,80 r.H. 2 N. A clearer day
allogetber. KWO ft., 24-40 ureal.

Baton dawn ii iba daareat timo In

K««. 1

Nu . . . .

the 24 hoan : then ii no dut-

hai*. lalar doudlen, by 10 a.M.

bar. ■■ ureal. Barl» a 8.E., by
».30 4.1C. VMTing to W.. 3 p.>, 4

N-.W.,dDit«nd»andBylnB. 4660

ft.. 2S ID preM.

.. a

•■

Idmn.
Early cloudleai, by 7.30 a.k. haaTy

•• 8

TOUMT

Ltntuait

dnit-haie, later <Ia<t-*tomu from
W. 3 W. JyiDg down to 1 W,
6300 fl., 34-46 pn«.

" *

SnBOBlCK . .

lea^ 2 9.W. 7800 fU. 2260

- 6

„

Ea'rtH<wt->"u*. later 1 cimu, dull.

■ '

TObSlDck . .

Early A camalui, 1 E.. Utet 8

Imi, duit-baie atronger than
uinal. IN. 83.VLirL.2linprMa.

- 7

Yt-Ym . .

Cloudlm early, clearer than lunal,
tie- unlimited op to 11 a.m.
2 8.E. Ut«r 2 .<«,, than E.,
duit-hue all back by 2 r.K.

8000 n., 23-00 praaa.

iH rex nxnanm c& haboo vglo.

HAKIOf PL*Cl

TBovunaL

D»T«.

rom» or Vm ub Wunn.

Not. 8

Ydlouh-

Bdl*ck
Lknq&b

■s

°3?

■s?

D«^

1 dmu, 3 S.B. Dp to wxa cte
withont h»e. BOOT luu »n teck.
2 X.E. Sdo poirerfoL »0(lfL,
22-25 piCM.

.. B

TOLLAH-KOiOA

CloQdlesa, do wind t»ily. br fcS
t^u. 1 N.B., later *«enng V V.

to 1 N.E. Bate thieka. SUD

ft., 21 -SS pro*.
Fint biow Wt ni(*t una P*h

.. 10

K*mA-8*i . .

3 N. Cloudy eu-ly mU Imrj

hua. 2 W. All diT, 7 aailo-
stimtna. WOO ft. , 2(HB [««.

» 11

BCKO-BDI.U .

Hovy diut-bua to N. onr d«n.
7 cirro^molu*. Uh«- ckndte.
E»riy 1 W., Utef 2 N.B.

,. 12

BOOOKA 3il .

...

3fl

1 N.E. EMly 2 cir™. la> k«,
Uler 4 N.E., i&nd blowing liiA.
4 cirro-Btntiu. Iat« 3 coDsla'
stratus. S400 ft., 21-66 pntt

., IS

...

&rly S cimu, 1 3.B., UIct S nba-
boa or mow-clond^ « W. Wck
dost-bue all round. TM ft,
22-50 1«^ Vi.wli«ltl«ai.

» u

KoFi . . .

Euly 1 E., kt 9.90 A.K. S W,

n IS

l^^biie early, 2 S.W., lita S
cirto-catnubif. At 4 p.b. Iluci
diut-hue nil roanrl.

„ IB

Tak B*I . .

Cloniilew aarly. no wind, Ua hue
«U d»y, good vi»- for 5 to ; iiiil«
round, Uter I W. 7 ciunnlo-

ciiTUB. A clear aunny d«t, difler-
eat Trom the ostul, taovdi muet

ft., 20'30 ortst.
Early 1 S., 1 drro-rtrataa, Ul« J

.. 17

ACHIM . . .

N.K., dying away in aftemoon.
aoniad0Teraairfor.no.. 9SCP0

H 18

SoopA Drrs .

£a

rt, 20-eOpreu.
Clear boa, £a« earlv, 7 aimbiii for
snow. 1 S., lat.r 3 W.. dropping

le«a. 7300 ft., a-50 pr««.

,. IS

UKiTOH TiKKI

«0

2 B. eu-ly, 3 a.M. Tery cold off tlw
enow fcnen Lun run 12 mil-
distant 7 of No». ft. and IIL

blended, Uter 3 N. 4700 ft,

., 20

CaMcBiM . .'

It"

34-90 preat.
4 S. eaily, all day clondleaa witboDi
b«», later 2 N. 4100 ft., 15-9)

» 21

'•

fiS

K^lJ"ioadl«», 2 8., Uter 2 S.

RBOOSD OF TKHFEBATtniK AND WBATHKB.

CBntoBm .
Aeh-Ddii) .

Cuip27
CHDp28 .

Camp SI
Crataii Kum

UlBCB . .

■■■a-i

■if

PoM> or Won u

to*. Utu- 3

lort.. sen

preM.
Bkrly 1 S., bu* all d>r, UUr wind

Sthl, d/lDg awij 2 N.B. SUO

a., 26-15 pr«M.
All ilsT 1 toll N.B., Sdm^umnlu,

DobuB. ssoorL.at-aapreu.

CloudlsB tU iU]t, 1 B. Mii* to 3

N.E. Uta, DO hu*. 8300 ft.,

20-40 pnw.
Cloudlcw *U d«T, I 8. tuij to 3

N.K. bU, ud ODld. S87S R.,

34-70 praw.
2 tl.W. wlv, cloodlau all daf, Utor

DO wind. 3750 rt., aS-SO proa.
XarlT 2 8.W.. doodlaaa aU day, Utw

SN.B.
aoDdlw aariy, I S.W., UUr S

N,E.,0eaiuiao-«tr*tiia. 2900ft.,

Bariy 1

ClondlML _. _,, , , -

3N.E. 3000 II. aS-W pi
tia wind aarlr, 5 clrrfhatratna. Utar

S E.N.E., doodloa. 3000 ft..

28-00 pTou.
BarlT 3 8.W., 7 nlmboa fbt mo* all

Jay, latar 1 NX 2gW ft.. S6'7S

8 nlmbu tor anow all day, tniuh
raldar. Early 3 8.W., Utar 3
y.K. S300rt.,3B-30praai. (Ttm-
paratnn takon ban la an op«a
trmi 40 yd*, ao., ahaltand tina
tbi wind.) Wiotir hat bagan
wIthoDt much wan Ids.

A «tl<l itonn [rem Iba N. W. foUowad
by huiy iDow ; 2 Incbai f«U la
audar two boon.

HnTy haM all day ahaenrlm tba
■ky. aunny at midday, S Incfaaa
of aDaw Ivloft bard tniaa.

Early brifbt anu but haia, tIcw
limit 2 mika. L«Ut bo wind, 4

brly S N.K., duU and obacon all
day. No thaw aicapt ia ana at
nidday.

873

nr 1HB fouivuHi am k&boo pcha.

K<n OP PucL

TnmuTiEUL

Dua.

VUo or Worn ui. Wuna.

"J^-

Dm. 10

Cbabeauoe .

°?

D«-

■>> tn: or 80* rotiBd tlM hocnm.

aK.E.

.. 11

All d.y eloQdlet., m wind. H*^
hau up to an af 40* dM$

.1 12

»3

...

CbndlM mzlr. 1 8.W., lunl ui
afliM* aU mad. Utar« ubIm
to mow. IN^X

. 18

...

Unulhuc arcn tottrallna^
2 N.R,. 4 cimu. 3000 fU, 27 40

m U

CknpSS . .

MnSd .a day, 5 nrr^^lnbu,
hue aa nnul. SS60 ft. V-%

Afl diT cioodlM*. 3 8.W. to W,
<uiul hue, DO wind at a)^

.. IB

Tdiliob-Kull*

2500 ft., 27W pren.

„ 16

Abdu . . .

7 nimbiu fat niov. tulj do «i»l,
later 5 cirrru. 2 K.E. SW ft,
27'30pre«.

M 17

Cunpfl . .

AH day cloodlea* aad aniuiT, a^
I S.. Utn 3 S.E. 3100 ft, E'A

., 18

C«»p42 . .

...

Early no wind, 6 eino - eamila^
UMt 4 N.E.. 4 cnimilo-MlltH.
3400 n., 3716 p™«.

., 10

Camp 43 . .

2fi

S.W.. all day bitter cold. °ciii»

cuEiulus, UtOT 4 oimbiu for uo».

2400 ft., 27-20 pnu.

. 20

C»mp44 . .

Sfl

Nimbo. (or mow aU day. Eariy J
8.W.,laMT]N.E. 330Oft..i;30

.. 21

C«mp4e . .

...

BMvy haie all tooud eariy, othu-

. 33

Ounp4« . .

CompantiTely a mitd day, so >i>4
beaTy baie an np to 4r all romd.
otlwTWiM clon^na. 2300 lU

„ 23

Camp 47 . .

27-SO pnn.
E.rlylSw.,Ut«-2N-.B. Aartta
pfirfect day, dondlcu and siDay,

■ No thermoireter left wholi i»p-

- 24

Cbbistmas £vi

_,.

(Cwnp)

All miau readingi noUd Ita

Ba^e parfect day, cloadlcai *i<li
brisht •unihltM. haM aa uoat, i
U.S. 2200ft.,37-3Spraat.

H 2S

CHRIiTH»B D*T

BIUdb wind. 2 S.W. nlij. law
2 N.E. Clondless. *>th ns iJl

(Cwnpl

day. aaas n.. 27-35 pt-a

BXOOBD OF TEBIPEBATDBE AKD WEATHER.

Ruii or tijiis.

Tutraunnc

Ikn.

Ft*ci or WwB titn Wunci.

a
».«.

N.»

Boxnra DiT

No wind eirlr, later 2 N.t, clondy
■nd lualew up to noon. 2150 ft..

(Cuap)

27-45 prow.

■ 37

CtmpSl . .

-t

3 N.E., 4 camntna, biting iriad,
ft., 27-30 preu.

> SI

CkmpS2 . .

-1

— '

CloDdlfU tu]j, no wind, liter 4
drnvtamola., 2 8.W. 2375 ft.,
27-20 pr«..

. »

CuipSS . .

-t

...

aonilleu Jl d.y, biting 3 N.E.
wind. 2400 ft., 27-20 pr™.

• 90

Nbw Yub'i

■nlCunp)

— 1

wind. 2160 ft., 27-46 pnu.

■ 81

—I

Eu-ly 3 N.E. wind, l>ltintt cold,
l.t.r 2 N.E., tai»hiiie. 4 cino-

CQIDUIIU.

DAT (Cuup)

-1

CToudlew »U d«j-, bright lunihtae,
very cold Mrly, Ut«r 2 8,W.
2a)0ft,.B7-4Op«M.

TOOIUCK

— 1

EMitr 7 nimbni with itWinpt. Ut
■DOW, 2 N.E., UUr clMr«d. lirigU
•on.hinf,=londl»M,2 8.w'. SlW
ft, 27-85 pr™.

E.rly 2 N.%., «loudI«» all d.T,
later no wlpd, bright «m. 25W

KCODOK

CMiip67 . .

— ?

n.,a7iop««.

2 S.E., cloudlfu all daj. tnniUsi.

fiS

CuipGS . .

3S00 ft., 27-00 |>r«M.

s»

TA1.TDK-
KUDUCB

— '

So wind, aitfviue cold early, 8
Dimii, later S E., doudlcH. WOO
ft., aa 70 pnsM.

OunpSO . .

Early no wind, 7 nimhm for anow
alT day, later 3 N.W., *g*lD S
N.E. inSO ft., 28-06 p™.

A temllit gftla (Kaiw-Bonn) U*t

nifht from II P.B. to 2,30 a.m.
2 8.W. early. 7 nimba. (or mow.

«i

CwpSl . .

7 nimliu* for loow. 4 K., IntcnMl*
cold wind all day. -JSOO ft.. 2t-»

Kau-Nok .

Terr dev, dropping later to I K.
3000 ft., 39-60 pre».

• 10

— 1

...

Cloadlw all day, 2 K.

. 11

UmpOJ . .

-1

«a

-r

...

No wind foiroooD. clooilleia all day.
•un.bln* Ut«r, 1 H.W. 3100 It,
aS-» pr«a..

' 13

Ttn HuAii

S clrTua, no wind Mtly. Irlsht nn-
ahlna, a beautiful day. 3100 R.,

(»*cm)

30-MprM.

376

INDEX.

Abdal, the mMrthmen of, 173 ; sand

root-heapc near, 175.
AcheD, 133.

Akbar, the Emperor, 66, 243, 250.
Aksai-Chin highUndi, the, 64.
Ak.au, 200, 206.
AltyD Tag, the, 161.
AndijanU, the aUqnity of the, 07,

99, 141.
Andrew, Mr, C.LM., 286.
An*ai>choa, a moribiind town, 229.
Army, the Chinese, weakneea of

organiaatlon, in Turkestan, 211 ;

the drilling of, 291 ; the present

and fnture of, 353 ; General

Gordon*! opinion of, 360, 361.
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 268.
Arrow, Tht, connection of, with

the opium question, 278.
Atwood, Dr, 334.

Baba Hatan valley, the, 62.

Bactriana, 93.

B eacons, post and fire, between

Yarkand and Peking, 249.
Bokhara, character of the natives

of, 98.
Bombay, 2.
Bonin, M., 149, 188.
Bowen, Colonel, 203.
Bower, Hamilton, 63.
Bnddha, a colossal figure of, 258.
Buddhism, introduction of, into

China, 101 ; the effect of, on

Cliina, 204 ; the great temple at

Shan-tan-hdbn, 257.

CarU, Chinese, 226, 282, 283.

Cash, Chinese, 230.

Cathay, origin of the name, 356.

Cave-dwellingB, the, at Tak Bai, 1 33.

Cave tombs, 323.

Cave villages, 319.

Ceylon, Chinese conquest of, 355.

Cbagatia dialect, the, the oldest
form of Turkish, 97.

Chakalik, the route from Cherchen
to, 151 ; a centre of importance,
160 ; one mean street, 162 ; a
kindly Amban, 163 ; story of the
Amban's wife, 181 ; the troops
at, 211.

Chang-Chenmo valley, the, 36.

Chang Chien, introduction of
Buddhism into China by, 101.

Chang- la Pftss, the, preparations
for climbing, 32.

Cheng- ting-fu, railway at, 340 ;
Signor PhUlipetti's ** hotel" at,
342.

Chengtu Plain, irrigation works of
the, 281.

Cherchen, the deeert route to,
120 ; unfriendly reception at,
137 ; the Amban's welcome, 138 ;
Marco Polo at, ib, ; a town of one
street, 139; its revenue, 140;
gigantic dead trees nsar, 153 ;
taxation in, 208.

Chia-yu-kuan, the frontier fortress
of, 229, 242, 243, 245.

Chiang, Mr, an enlightened pro-
gressive, 290.

376 me

Chih-ohin-hsia, 242.

China, currency in. 307 ; apathy of,
regarding TurkaBtaji, 213; the
Bo-called Kwakaning of, 216 ;
agripuUure in, 234 ; a first view
of the Old Wall of, 245 ; vulner-
ability of, on the north-west,

260 j her natural defences, ih. ;
her want of military forsalght,

261 ; the queation of miuioni in,
264 ; the quevtion of railways in,
270 ; Mongol, dominion in, 316 ;
historical development of, ib, U
ttq. ; the baste of, to ape the
West, 344 : the future military
development of, 316, el mil. ; the
Emperor and the Empreu-
dowager of. 350 ; Pliny'e and
Plolemy'B description of, 355 ;
canqaeit of, by Cblngin Kbui,

sse.

"Chios'* Sorrow," 285.

Chinese, the gorcrument of Turke-
Btan by the, 206 ; the attitude
of, towards Western ideaa and
practices, 22 1 ; their business apti-
tude, 232 ; aaloanding oootrasts
in the character of the, 233 ; the
dull life of the lower order* of,

240 ; privacy unknown to the,

24 1 ; filthy hahita tif the. ih. : the
blessings of tea to the, 24^ ;
their artistic endowments, 258 ;
as skilful carters and driven,
2S3 ; how their army is drilled,
291; low wages of, 296 1 erroneous
Western views regarding thi
34(1.

Fa Hien, th* CUimm pOpias, lOL
Feast of Lantenu, at 3«>^kaB, 3it
Fen-chou. coal mlnen U, USt
at, 334.

Fu b

I, 262.

Ghoorkhas, defeat of, by

Chinese, 350.
Gobi desert, the, &6. 170.
Ow>. Benedict, 65. 243. 25a
Gordon, General. 237, 390.
GoUf Singh, Raja. 6S.

Hakim Khan. 238.
Bami, 199. 238.
Hare, the Tibetan, 39.
Hawking, the pnu-tic« of. al Paix.

85; at Niya, 113 d Kf . i >

Chakalik, 166.
Heden. Sven, 6. HZ, US, 147, IM

171. ITS, JS6.
Hewett, Dr Julius, 289.
Hiuen Tsaog, the riiliii P>IpK

103.
Ho-ehou, 235, 238.
U>i Hsia dynasty, the anoim,
Hsien towns, 262.

m proviDC
214.

India, connection of, with C\iAat
Turkestan, 203 ; Chinese isTsni
of. 355.

Indian trader* in TurkMtaa. f
IDO, 141 a ftq.

Issikul, 201.

Japan, defeat uf Kublai Khan \

Chingifl Klian. conquest of Chic

by, 94, 356.
Christmas \a the Kum Tag, 171

17B.
Chou, Duke, 316.
Chou towns, 262.
Cordier. M. Henri, 149.
Cur7j)n, Lord, 2.
Curion Range, the, h3.

Dass. Sarnt Chandra, 63.

Kan-chriD, the Belgian Missiw ti.
'Ja6, 257 : " the gold mine," r.i

Kandahar, 261.

Kansu, North - West, evidences «
war in, 235 ; sun ken rii44n<>
in, 255 ; climate of, ih. : fnH
of refugB in, 261 : richctes i
in conl, 272 \ the inhabitant) >
275; theopiumeqr»i?, 278; tutm
develiipiueiit of. 298.

Kara Koshun marahea, the, \'X
171.

Kara Nor. 154, IS8, 191.

INDEX.

377

KArakonun ronte, the, to Tarkeatan,
29, 201.

Kanwha, 200.

Kftthgar, Indian traders at, 141,
205 ; the Ranian Consul-General
of, 213, 238.

Kaeil-diwan PaM, the, 57.

Kennett, Mr, C.I.M., 289.

Khanbalik. Vide Pekin, 247.

Khotan, the buried mint of, 91,
107, 238.

Kien-long, Emperor, 359.

Kinder, Mr, 340.

Kiria, the question of the identifi-
cation of, with Pimo, 91 ; a
friendly Amban, 92.

Kiria river, the, 87.

Kitchener Group, the, 53.

Kixil Art mountains, the, 197.

Kokhand, conquest of, 214, 216.

KookhU, 90.

Kopa, a village of hovels, 130.

Kopal, 201.

Korla, 161.

Kow-tow, the, 248.

Krapotkin, Prince, 170.

Kublai Khan, 94, 138, 356.

Ku-kuan Pass, the, 338.

Kuen Lun, beginning the passage
of the, 67 ; a wonderful view,
68 ; the gold-diggers of the, 70 ;
an uninviting camp, 72; track-
making extraordinary, 75 ; a
welcome surprise, 76.

Kuldja, 199, 205.

Kuli Beg, 238.

Kum 1^ Desert, the, 150, 177
et seg.

Kurruk - tag, the position of the,
185, 190.

Ladak, limited resources of, 58.

Ladakis, the, religion of, 7, 8, 9 ;
polyandry among, 1 1 ; the women
of, 12 ; the degraded Buddhism
of, 17 ; characteristics of the,
55.

Lahore, the fort at, compared with
that of Chia-yn-kian, 245.

Lall Singh, a Sikh surveyor, 22,
35, 52, 67, 180, 193.

«« Lama,'* the, 43.

Lanak-U Pass, the, 40, 41, 42.

Lan-chon, 198; the tobacco indus-
try at, 282 ; forts of refuge near,
283, 284; description of the
town, 285 ; the gairison at, 291 ;
fragrant tobacco and lovely
women, 294 ; route from, to
Chun-king, 298.

Lanterns, Feast of, at Su-chou, 252.

Lapchack Mission, the, 26 et seq,

Layard, Captain W. T., 3, 22, 67»
74, 79, 168, 193, 224, 225, 288,
333, 343.

Leh, the approach to, 13 ; the
importance of the position of,
ib. ; the polyglot population of,
14 ; the castle, 15 ; the Lama
temple, ib, et nq. ; preparing
the caravan at, 18 et aeq. ; buy-
ing ponies at, 21 ; polo in the
streets of, 23 ; the Lapchack
Mission, 26 ; leaving civilisation
at, 31.

Lhasa, the Lapchack mission to,
26 ; English booU in fashion at,
160 ; a native route to, 161 ; the
journey from, to Chakalik, 202.

Li Hung Chang, 237.

Liangchon, 198, 212; the future
importance of, 268 ; lines of
connection with Peking, 269 ;
*«the silver mine," 272; China
Inland Mission at, 273.

Ling-Zi-Thang, the highlands of,
54.

Liu, General, 237.

Loess formation, account of the, in
North China, 301 et aeq,

Lopnor, the controversy regarding,
147 ttteq., 171.

Lou-Ian, description of, in 77 B.C.
and the present day, 146 el 9eq.

Macartney, Mr George, 146.

Blanohuria, recent events in, 216;
strategical importance of, 260.

Maral Bashi, 200, 238.

Martin Dr, 322.

Masemick-la Pass, the, 37, 57.

Mecca, pilgrims to, 215.

Mines, primitive methods of work-
ing, at Sorghack, 125 ei aeq, ; \

Mingti, the dream of the Emperor,
102.

378 INDBX.

Kl^rHfj *tiM valm of, in CliiiiA» Ptolmnyy dctoriplioii of GUm Igr,

964. 866.

MolMIIIIBMd All» f».

MohaauMdMH liaiiigiy tnuMt of, in Quette, 261.

Nivlii.W«i Kmira, 286, 817.

Mongol dyna«tiM, the, in Ohims iUilwayt, tho fiBtuv ol, in Gttn,

817. 270.

Rlieinliaidt. ICr. iniwinn nrTi 2S&

Nan^diMi nnge, the, 266, 266. RUm, Detrenil de^ 68.

mya, dioioe of lonteo from, to Riooi, Matthew, Jesuit pionwr,

Cherohen end Ltqpnor, 120 ; the 26a

roate from Kirin to, 104; the Richerd, Dr Timothy, 886, 816,

tomb of Lnern JelMr Sedik, 107 ; 337.

■end-lmiled mine, A. ; e qporting Rioh t hoi e n, Benn, 148, 801, 888.

Bm;^ 106. Bojdeetfenaki, AdrninO, 867.

Hwhb. 261. Radok, 36.

Rnkh, Sheh, 146, 248, 247, 248.

<ttkodei, eon of CSiingii Khen, 04, Rumin, portion oi, in GUnan

866. Turkeetan, 212; the fatue o^

O^om, tiw ehoae of, in North- in Torkeeten, 217 el mq.

Weetwn Kenen, 276 ; the Peking Rnzton, O^ptein, 286.

Bdiot, 277; the Idatory of the

opinm qof&ijUmt 278 eC eag; Saohu, leoeption at, 104; aaflknt
Otto^ Mmeeigaeiir, 264, 277. history of, 218 ; vidted by Ifaieo

Ftolo, f&. ; New Year leatiTifeiH
Fa-pa, deeoiE^on of a fort at, 268. at, 221; Tidting at, 222; ea
PsaUeiiQn, Ouplain, 60. eihibition of markunaaahip at,

Peking, firom Uramtd to, 202; 226.

teiegr^pk line to, from Ka^gar, Samarkand, IM.

212 ; a oonrier poet, Uk San-ehi-U, Oitholic miadon at, 808,
Pimo, identification of, with Eiria, 321.

91. San Tao Kou, in the track of war
Ping-yang, 307. at, 239.

Pish Pek, 201. Seistan, 261.

Pliny, China described by, 355. Semipalatinsk, a pilgrim from, 159.

Polo, Marco, route of, after leaving Sbanai, indoeUiea of, 313 ; earliest

Khotan, 91 ; proofs of his ac- inhabitants of, 315 ; Imperial

curacy, 139 ; discoveries of, 145 ; University of, 335 ; coalfields of,

his description of Lop, 148 ; veri- 339.

fying his descriptions, 169, 174; Shan-tan-hsien, the Buddhist temple

anoti^er signal instance of his at, 257, 259.

accuracy, 218 ; a practical mer- Sheep, as beasts of burden, 62.

chant, 247. Shensi, Mohammedan risings in,
Polu, a hospitable reception at, 79 ; 235 ; ancient boundaries of, 315,

an ideal rest-cure, 81 ; desorip- 316 ; cave-dwellings in, 331.

tion of the village, 82 ; a typicad Shintu, the old Chinese name for

dwelling-house, 83 ; notes on the India, 203.

people of, 84 ; hawks and hawk- '* Shoes," silver, 231.

ing, 85 ; taxation in, 208. « Shu-king," the, 314.

Poongoon lake, the, 36. Si-an Fu, the siege of, 286 ; an
Portsmouth, U.S.A.^ the treaty of, important railway terminus, 272.

347. Siddartha, Prince, 101, 250.

Pready, Mr, C.LM., 289. Si-ning, 235 ; importanoe of, 297.

Prjevalsky, Colonel, 147. Sonamarg, 5.

INDEX.

379

Sorghaok, the road to, 121 ; a ool-
leotion of hots and caves, 123 ;
the gold industry at, 124 ; prim-
itive mining at, 125.

Splingardt, Mr, '* LinTa-Jen," 257,
293.

8rinagar, 3.

Stein, Dr, 91, 107, 120, 139, 203.

Su-chou, the Chinese boundary at,
229 ; the fall of. 238 ; visited by
Maroo Polo, 247 ; by Go«s, 250 ;
description of, 251 ; the Feast of
Lanterns at, 252 et Btq, ; petrol-
eum springs at, 257.

8ze-chuan province, 316.

Taeping rebellion, the, 237.

Taitsung, Emperor, 355.

Tai-yuan-fu, the massacre at, 273,
335 ; European university at, ib. ;
China mission at, 337.

Tak Bai, cave-dwellings at, 132.

Takla Makan desert, the, 234.

Ttokse, 31, 34.

TsshKent-Omsk railway, the, 201.

Terek Pass, the, 201.

Thianchu, 63; the old Chinese
name for India, 203.

Tibet, difficulty of travelling in,
41 ; the fauna of, 46 ; the cold
at nighU in, 48, 49; «*The
Devil's Plain," 51 ; the two
grand divisions of, 54 ; the
mountain ranges of, 55 ; Reng
and Chang-Thang, ih. ; the native
name for, ib. ; the Chinese name
for, t6. ; a trying west wind, 58 ;
the question of transport in, 59 ;
the early history of, 63 e< 9eq. ;
the future of, 215.

Tobacco, the manufacture of, at
Lan-chou, 294.

Tograck-kuduck, the aocoraoy of
maps respecting, 186.

Transport, hints regarding, in
Tibet, 59 el teq.

Tughlak Tinnr, first Mohammedan
ruler of Kashgar, 95.

Tung Huang. Vide Saohu.

Turkestan, Chinese, early history
of, 93 ei 9eq, ; geographical area
of, 95 ; the inhabitanU of the
Hsia Chiang, 96; varkms alian
mom lii« 97 ; agrioaldura in« 99 ;

methods of road measurement in,
129 ; historical facts relating to,
145 ; the boundaries of, 197 ;
political areas, ib. ; possible rail-
way routes, 198; linea of com-
munication, 199 et mq, ; close
connection of, with India, 203 ;
form of government in, 205 ;
currency in, 207 ; revenue and
taxes in, 208; industries, 209;
military organisation, 210 ; in-
ternal political reUtions, 212;
relations with Russia and Eng-
land, 16. tt iteq, ; Chinese apathy
towards, 213 ; considerations
respecting the future of, 217 ;
military unpreparedness of, 259.

UrumUi, 161, 164, 199, 202, 213.

Vash Shar, 157.
Vemoe, 201.

Watch-towers, Chinese, 188, 828.
Wei river, the, 311, 315.
Welby, M. S., 63.
Wushi-ling Pass, the, 202, 225,
256.

Xavier, Father Jerome, 65, 250.

Yak, the, as a beast of bnrden, 38 ;

a stalking adventure, 47.
Yakub Beg, 95, 98, 199, 238.
Yalu, the battle of the, 246.
Yarkand, the Karakoram ronte to,

29 ; Indian traders in, 141, 238.
YasMhara, 259.
Yellow River, the, ''China's Sorrow,"

285, 310.
Yen, the ancient princedom of, 316.
Yen-an-fu, cava-tombs near, 823.
Younghusband Expedition, the, 63,

66, 160.
Yu-Hsien, the story of the fats of,

273.
Yuan Shih Kai, Viceroy, military

reforms of, 210.
Yule, Sir Henry, 149, 203, 242,

247, 248, 249, 354, 358.

Zoji PtMS, the, 5, 6.

Zorawar Singh, 66.

Zongaria, conquest of, in 17579 96.

3 2044 020 573 796

THE BORROWER WILL BE CHARGED
AN OVERDUE FEE IFTHIS BOOK IS NOT
RETURNED TO THE LIBRARY ON OR
BEFORE THE LAST DATE STAMPED
BELOW NON-RECEIPT OF OVERDUE
NOTICES DOES NOT EXEMPT THE
BORROWER FROM OVERDUE FEES.

'»r •, -

' ^ ■. « ■

I sr, oW I,

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo: Being the Account of a Journey Overland from Simla to Peking"

See other formats